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Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan's coalition partners accuse him of damaging "our social base" with his austerity program...
Romania's Social Democrats have initiated procedures to remove Prime Minister Ilie Boloian, opening a new political crisis in a country that has already gone through a long period of instability.
The party, which governs in coalition with the Bolognese liberals, voted overwhelmingly on Monday to withdraw political support from the prime minister. The Social Democrats hold the largest number of votes in the Romanian parliament.
The party's leader, Sorin Grindeanu, accused Bolojani, who leads the center-right National Liberal Party, of pursuing an austerity policy that, according to him, has damaged the economy and increased the cost of living for Romanian citizens.
“The PSD can no longer be held hostage while our social base is being destroyed,” Grindeanu told senior party leaders in Bucharest, using the acronym for the Social Democratic Party.
According to local media, hundreds of people gathered in the capital for an evening rally in support of Bolojan. In a press statement, he said he would not resign. The prime minister accused the Social Democrats of shirk responsibility for decisions he said they had made together.
"What we are seeing today is the endangerment of our country's finances, the disintegration of the government, and all this with a complete lack of respect for the citizens of the country," Bolojan declared.
He blamed coalition partners for destabilizing the country at a time when war is raging in the Middle East and the European economy continues to stagnate.
Romania entered a political crisis in 2024, after presidential elections were controversially canceled due to suspicions of foreign interference.
Although the Social Democrats won the largest number of seats in parliament in the 2024 elections, the latest polls show growing support for the right-wing opposition Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, which came in second in that election. Its leader, George Simion, called for early elections on Monday, even before the Social Democrats voted to withdraw support for Bolognese.
The Social Democrats and Liberals formed a fragile government with two other parties in early 2025, but the coalition was plagued by long-standing political tensions and the Social Democrats' opposition to austerity measures. Romania was forecast to have the highest budget deficit in the European Union in 2025, around 9 percent of GDP.
The government had initially agreed for Bolojan to lead the country for the first two years, before the leadership passed to a representative of the Social Democrats.
According to Romanian media reports, Bolojan is expected to face a no-confidence motion in parliament next week. Reuters reported that the Social Democrats have also threatened to withdraw six of their ministers from the cabinet later this week.
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