Romania – Next try in Bucharest

After several minority governments, several votes of no-confidence and a number of high-profile resignations, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis nominated Interim Defense Minister Nikolai Siuka, his agent, as prime minister again on Monday. The retired four-star general will in the future head a social liberal coalition government after Yohannes surprisingly recommended that the Liberals (PNL), who are close to him, work with the formerly distorted Post-Communist Party (PSD) in the past few weeks.

No fixes in sight

The third coalition partner in the new government is the Hungarian Conservative Assembly (UDMR). The coalition agreement is already in place: After two weeks of difficult negotiations, the PSD and the National Police agreed – apparently on the basis of the Israeli model – to rotate at the head of the government, with the Liberals being the first to introduce the head of government. Ciuca’s term ends on July 1, 2023, whether his successor to PSD chief Marcel Ciolaco or another prominent PSD representative remains open. In the Liberal Socialist Cabinet, the PSD would obviously play the first role – the post-communists claimed a total of ten departments, while the Liberals had eight, and the UDM three.

In Parliament, the Grand Coalition has a large majority of over 300 out of a total of 466 seats – which theoretically enables it to implement major reforms as well as constitutional changes. However, Roman observers of politics rely only on sham reforms – particularly in the area of ​​the judiciary, and no progress is expected, according to the substance.

These fears have already been fed by the prime minister-designate: According to Ciuca, the grand coalition wants to dissolve the Special Investigation Commission for Judicial Criminal Matters (SIIJ), which the EU insists on abolishing, and which the PSD launched in 2018, but the controversial re-establishment of the institution Then.

Yohannes out of danger

The SIIJ’s solution, which is generally seen as a way to put pressure on uncomfortable judges and prosecutors, depends on abolishing the EU Commission’s cooperation and oversight mechanism in the judiciary that Romania had hoped for, as well as on the state. Long-awaited accession to the Schengen away.

Thanks to the grand alliance, Romanian head of state Iohannis can now breathe a sigh of relief: with the post-communists in the government boat, impeachment proceedings against him by the right-wing National Alliance of the Union of Romanians / AUR in the beginning of November, there is hardly any Any prospects for success – with the PSD in opposition, they would have little chance of success, however, could be dangerous for him. AUR accused the head of state, among other things, of provoking an acute governmental crisis, of wanting to rule the country through puppets and of repeatedly violating the constitution with his political bias.

Former Prime Minister and Liberal leader Ludovic Orban announced on Monday that he was leaving the party he had belonged to for nearly 30 years: the National Liberation Party was “dead” – weak party leadership and the head of state would win his love. Their constituents literally buried the treason committed. Orban had recently said on a talk show about the president that he was actually “unrecognizable”: Yohannes acted “completely irrational,” as if he had been “abandoned by all the good souls,” the former National Liberation Party chief said.(what or what)