ISSN: 2560-1601
Vol. 28, No. 1 (RO)
April 2020
Romania political briefing: A new, but old, Government facing the coronavirus crisis Oana Cristina Popovici
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A new, but old, Government facing the coronavirus crisis
Coronavirus crisis caught Romania with an interim Government, after the Orban Government was dismissed through a censorship motion. The political crisis, which initially seemed to go deep, ended with the decision of the opposition parties to speed up the procedure for the nomination of a new Government. The actual Orban Government has almost the same structure and ministers as the previous one. In the meantime, the Minister of Health resigned and was replaced by the state secretary involved in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic, so the transfer went smooth. Now, the Government has to take measures for the postponement of the local elections, which cannot be organized at the end of June, as previously established, due to the actual movement restrictions and the interdiction of public meetings.
The outbreak of coronavirus crisis surprised Romania with an interim Government, with limited responsibilities regarding the administrative activities after the Orban Government was dismissed through a censorship motion. The political fight sharpened at the end of February, seeming without a close end. The Liberals lost the majority in the Parliament which could have saved them from the for no-confidence motion and any other proposal having a Liberal in front of the Government seemed without success. The Constitutional Court ruled against the possibility that Ludovic Orban to be nominated again as Prime Minister, requesting a candidate that could ensure the coagulation of a parliamentary majority in order to form a new Government. Therefore, the second nomination was in the person of the finance minister Florin Cîţu. However, he was credited with very low chances for being voted in the Parliament, as he was considered the second most undesirable person for holding this position, after Ludovic Orban, among the members of the Parliament (MPs) in the opposition.
While this happened at the end of February, during the beginning of March things started to change. Romania registered the first coronavirus case and Romanians begun to come home from the affected regions in Italy. It became clear that more stringent measures were needed for limiting the spread of the virus and that the healthcare sector had to be strengthened for facing the spread of the epidemic among the population. It was clear that Romania needed a Government with full powers. The situation created by coronavirus disease radically changed the positions of the parliamentary parties, leading to a declared intention to vote in favour of Cîţu Government. Except for SDP, all the other parliamentary parties publicly announced to
1 support Cîţu for being appointed as quickly as possible. Finally, even the Social Democrat Party (SDP), the major party in opposition, announced that some of its leaders are committed to vote for the designed Prime Minister, in order to avoid the deepening of the political crisis in Romanians’ detriment. Due to these reasons, it started to became clear that the chances of Cîţu as Prime Minister drastically increased. The vote in the Parliament for the new Government was established on March, 12. On that day, while the MPs were gathering for the vote, Florin Cîţu made the decision to resign as Prime Minister just before the plenary meeting in the Parliament. He motivated his decision by saying that the President of the National Liberal Party (NLP) has to be the Prime-Minister, thus leaving the place to Ludovic Orban, who was considered to be more experienced in managing the expected crisis. In the same evening, President Iohannis made a new nomination and appointed again Ludovic Orban for the position of Prime Minster. This time, even SDP announced that it will support the new appointment, in order to speed up the procedure for the nomination of a new Government. The ministers’ hearings were made over the phone and two days later, the Parliament voted for the second Orban government, in special conditions due to the fact that one of the MPs was found positive for the coronavirus test. The Orban Government obtained 286 votes out of 309, with the large support of SDP. In fact, the presence of the Liberal MPs was reduced, because most of the NLP members were in self-isolation, since one of their colleagues was found positive at the coronavirus after attending a meeting of the Liberals. Even Ludovic Orban and several members in the Government entered the self-isolation period, from where the Government was coordinated. Following the vote, in order to exercise the obligations expressly provided by the Constitution – namely the oath in front of the President – the members of the Government and high ranking officials from the institutions belonging to the national security and defence system were allowed to go out of isolation strictly during the performance of these obligations, with the commitment of keeping distance from other persons and wearing protective masks. The second Orban Government had the same structure and the same ministers as the previous one which was dismissed through no-censure motion and Florin Cîţu remained finance minister. The next day after the vote of the Government, Romania’s President declared state of emergency to fight the coronavirus.
For two weeks, during which the health crisis deepened and the number of Romanian infected with Covid-19 started to increase, the Prime Minister lead the Government from the isolation. He returned to his regular work schedule after this period. In a first step, the measures taken by the Government were focused on limiting the spread of the virus, providing the necessary facilities in hospitals, taking measures for reducing the movement of population and
2 enhancing the first measures for supporting the small companies in the most affected sector or approving the change of activity for several companies, in order to produce medical equipment and biocides. Now, the second wave of measures are targeted towards regulating the effects of some companies’ closure and the social impact on the citizens, such as the provision of state funds for the technical unemployment and gaining support from the banks for postponing the payment of credit rates.
In the meantime, the Minister of Health, Victor Costache, has announced his resignation due to personal and professional reasons, but without providing more information. However, his decision came just a day after he official announced that the entire population of Bucharest will be tested against coronavirus. The measure aroused several controversies, as the number of coronavirus tests is still reduced. It seems that such a pilot project for testing population in Bucharest will be carried out for a representative sample of 10,000 people in the near future. Victor Costache was involved in managing the situation for ensuring the preparation of hospitals for dealing with the crisis. In addition, the testing capacity was increased in record time since the beginning of the crisis, from just a single centre in January to 29 centres at present. He was replaced by Nelu Tataru, who previously was secretary of state in the Ministry of Health led by Costache, due to the fact that he was very familiar with the strategy in the healthcare sector and strongly involved in the fight against the epidemic. The transfer was smooth, the new minister ensured the continuation of the previous measures. In addition, Victor Costache remained in the ministerial team of Nelu Tataru, in the position of advisor.
The epidemic may also lead to the postponement of the local elections, established at the end of June. The Permanent Electoral Authority sent President Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Orban and the leadership of Parliament a letter stating that in the current situation of a coronavirus pandemic, the timely organization of the electoral elections, proposed for June 28, has become “quasi-impossible”. There are several activities that should start at the latest on April 13 to organize local elections in time. Or, under the actual circumstances, the scenarios in Romania indicate that a pandemic peak will be registered in mid-April.
From the perspective of the local electoral calendar if the local elections were to take place on June 28, the Government decisions, necessary for their preparation and organization, should enter into force at the latest on April 13. In addition, April 1st represents the beginning of the online registration period in the Electoral Register of voters residing abroad who wish to vote there or by correspondence at the parliamentary elections. Under the actual restrictions, such operations are not possible. Therefore, the Permanent Electoral Authority draw the attention on the need of changing the primary legislation by establishing alternative procedures
3 for electoral operations that involve the physical interaction of voters, candidates and election officials. In addition, legislation is also needed for the extension of ongoing mandates of local authorities. According to their opinion, the implementation of legislative solutions for adapting the electoral processes to the current epidemiological context implies a minimum duration of time ranging from 3 to 6 months, before the actual election period starts.
Most party leaders in Romania already called for the postponement of elections. According to the Prime Minister, it is not possible to have elections preceded by a period in which the candidates to gather signatures or to run their electoral campaign having movement restrictions and the interdiction of public meetings. It is almost clear that local elections cannot be held on June 28th. Following consultations with political parties, it is expected that a normative act will have to be issued for the extension of the mandates of the current elected local representatives and of the date on which the elections will take place. Romania is thus following the measures already taken by countries such as Austria, United Kingdom, Canada or the Czech Republic, which postponed the elections scheduled this year due to the COVID- 19 pandemic or are taking measures to limit physical contacts to ensure public health.
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