According to investigative journalist Jochem van Staalduine, the Bolojan government, which took office in 2025, was an unhappy marriage from the start. The coalition, which consisted of the liberal PNL, the social-democratic PSD and the anti-corruption party USR, with some support from the Hungarian minority parties, was formed to exclude the far-right AUR. The AUR is led by young ultra-nationalist George Simion, who firmly mirrors himself to Donald Trump and Viktor Orb\u00e1n, and refuses to speak out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
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Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan of the liberal PNL\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n To keep Simion and his followers from power, a link between natural opposites emerged. The social-democratic PSD is a classic old power party in Romania, which has many political opponents - such as the USR, which routinely opposes the PSD - due to ongoing corruption scandals and irresponsible policies with public finances. Consequently, in the 10 months of the Bolojan cabinet, this opposition was never fully resolved. Crucially in this, Romania was still eligible for EU funds, provided it put its budget deficit in order before August this year. To thaw those billions, the PNL and USR wanted to cut public spending, while the PSD was betting on higher pensions and salaries. In the end, the PSD decided it did not want to take responsibility for an austerity policy, and quit the government.<\/p>\n According to Van Staalduine, this positioning of the PSD should not be seen as the behaviour of a principled leftist party, but as a populist move. The PSD in particular bears a lot of responsibility for the budget deficit Romania is now facing, partly by dodging difficult choices - especially in election years - on public sector cuts and public salaries. Partly because of this, the PSD has lost huge popularity, including to the far-right AUR, and co-responsibility for major cuts would lead to more loss of face.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If the PSD's move to leave the Romanian coalition for these reasons can already be considered irresponsible, the Social Democrats\u201c subsequent decision raises even more eyebrows: a week after the collapse of the cabinet, the PSD managed to drop the Bolojan cabinet by jointly tabling a no-confidence motion with the AUR. In Romanian media, the motion did not evoke so much surprise, says Van Staalduine: \"Romania does not have such robust Brandmauer<\/em> against the far-right like in Germany, and PSD people will say it was \u2018just a motion\u2019 and not intensive cooperation - as it could be in the Netherlands with a vote of no confidence.\u201d Rather, the question is now being asked in Romania whether the cooperation between PSD and AUR could be an introduction to future government cooperation. But that chance is slim, says Van Staalduine: \u201cThe PSD is mainly open to returning to the same coalition, with new government appointments and under new leadership. The intention of this motion was mainly to shake up politics.\u201d<\/p>\n While the distinction between one-off or structural cooperation may be of value in internal Romanian politics, it does not hold true at the European level. In Brussels, the PSD's actions are mostly interpreted as another example in a broader European trend, in which traditional parties in power are showing themselves to be increasingly \u2018tactically flexible\u2019 - and less and less able to set clear limits on cooperation with far-right parties. Renew-MEP Val\u00e9rie Hayer, for instance, called the no-confidence motion a \u2018\u2019Irresponsible act at a critical time'<\/a>, and asked Romanian MEP Siegfried Mure\u0219an for an explanation from the PES as to why it \u2018links itself to one of the most radical and anti-European forces in the EU\u2019.<\/p>\nFire wall<\/em><\/h4>\n