Romania’s Parliament threw out a new cabinet late on Monday. The tally was 189 for and 23 against, and more than half of the lawmakers abstained. Passage required at least 233 votes.
The cabinet belonged to Prime Minister-designate Adrian Vestea, who had hoped to close a crisis that opened in May, when a no-confidence vote brought down the previous government. Vestea is a longtime member of the National Liberal Party (PNL). President Nicusor Dan picked him for his administrative experience, after an earlier nominee, Eugen Tomac, failed to present a cabinet within 10 days.
A nominee without his own party
Vestea gave Parliament his governing program and list of ministers on Sunday. The largest party in the chamber, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), backed the slate. The PNL did not. Dan had not consulted the party before naming him, and it refused to endorse its own member.
In his speech to lawmakers, Vestea described Romania as going through “a complex period” with “distrust between the citizen and the state.” He listed “serious economic challenges, social tensions accumulated over years, an international context more unstable and risky than we have known for a long time.” Then he went further. “Our real problem is something else,” he said. “A crisis of trust.”
Earlier that day he met the leader of the hard-right nationalist opposition party, the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), arguing that “an unprecedented crisis” demanded a deal. It did not come. George Simion, the AUR leader, said afterward that his party would not support the cabinet, and AUR lawmakers walked out before ballots were cast.
Simion used his time at the podium to condemn the political class. “For 35 years in Romania, betrayal has been the order of the day and has somehow become commonplace, part of everyday life,” he said. “Those in this hall who are not traitors are leaving this hall synonymous with betrayal.”
PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu spoke to journalists before voting ended. His party, he said, would probably not support a minority government. He still congratulated Vestea on “accepting to enter this battle.”
What comes next
Cristian Andrei, a political consultant in Bucharest, told The Associated Press that the result mostly favors AUR, because it shows “the mainstream parties are unable to govern.” He expects the crisis to drag on. “Instability and populism win again,” he said.
Dan must now put forward another candidate. If that nominee also fails to form a government, snap elections become possible. A general election is not due until 2028.
The deadlock arrives with the public finances under strain. Romania carries one of the highest budget deficits in the European Union, along with rampant inflation, and cutting the deficit was a stated priority when the governing coalition took office in June 2025.
Sources
- Political crisis deepens as Romanian lawmakers reject new government – WTOP News
- Political crisis deepens as Romanian lawmakers reject new government
