Romania's Bolojan Government Faces No-Confidence Motion

In Bucharest, Romania's pro-European minority government led by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan faced a no-confidence motion on Tuesday, submitted jointly by the leftist Social Democratic Party (PSD), the largest group in parliament, and the nationalist Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR). The move, backed by more than 250 lawmakers, sets the stage for a potential vote as early as May 5, threatening to topple the coalition less than a year after it took office.

The PSD withdrew its ministers from the four-party coalition last week, stripping Bolojan's administration of its parliamentary majority. The split stemmed from disagreements over austerity measures, including tax increases, public sector wage and pension freezes, and spending cuts aimed at reducing Romania's budget deficit, the largest in the European Union, from over 9 percent of GDP in 2024 to 6.2 percent this year. Bolojan, from the center-right National Liberal Party (PNL), has refused to resign, insisting his government must press ahead with reforms to unlock more than 10 billion euros in European Union pandemic recovery funds by an August deadline.

PSD President Sorin Grindeanu described the motion as a...