Romanian governments rarely last long. Since the 2012 constitutional crisis, the country has seen at least 11 elected prime ministers, seven interim leaders and 19 different cabinets. Now another government has collapsed.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan’s cabinet, led by the National Liberal Party (PNL), was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote after just 10 months in office. The motion passed with 281 votes in favour across the two houses’ 464 seats.
What makes this collapse exceptional is that the Social Democratic Party (PSD), a party from the democratic, pro‑European camp, cooperated with the far‑right, pro‑Russian Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) to table and carry the motion. While there have been ad hoc joint votes before, this was the first coordinated, planned action of this kind and marks the effective breakdown of the “firewall” against the far right that pro‑democracy parties had agreed to uphold. The PSD has downplayed that interpretation.
The move could open the door to far‑right gains if snap elections are held.
A crisis months in the making
The no‑confidence motion followed months of internal strain within Bolojan’s four‑party, pro‑European coalition — formed in June 2025 and made up of the PNL, PSD, the Save Romania Union (USR) and the Hungarian minority party UDMR. Tensions peaked two weeks before the vote, when PSD ministers withdrew from the government and began gathering parliamentary backing for the motion.
Political context
Romania entered the government’s term after two fraught presidential contests: an annulled November 2024 vote over alleged foreign interference and a rerun in May 2025. In that second round, the far‑right AUR leader George Simion narrowly lost, receiving just over 46% of the vote. In late 2024 parliamentary elections, three far‑right parties, including AUR, together won about 30% of the vote.
After his May 2025 victory, the newly elected president, liberal‑conservative Nicuşor Dan, urged formation of a pro‑European coalition and a firewall against the far right — a call that helped produce the coalition that backed Bolojan’s government.
Reform agenda and public reaction
The government took office amid a severe economic crisis: a budget deficit exceeding 9%, slowing growth, an oversized state administration and stalled reforms. Early measures included tax increases such as higher sales tax, which angered parts of the public, though polls suggested many Romanians still backed the administration’s reform drive.
Bolojan pushed a wide‑ranging reform program targeting the state apparatus, state‑owned enterprises and the pension system. Tens of thousands of public positions were cut, bureaucratic structures were streamlined and costly, redundant roles in state firms were reduced. These moves helped reduce the deficit in some measures, but also provoked political pushback.
The most contentious change was ending the special pension scheme for members of the judiciary. Under the old system, some civil servants could retire before 50 with pensions averaging around €5,000 monthly and in rare cases up to €15,000, while the national average pension is about €500–€600. The government began phasing out those special pensions and raising retirement ages, a reform that triggered coalition friction and may now face uncertainty.
PSD’s role and domestic reaction
Despite its name and partial European alignment, the PSD traces roots to the former Communist Party and has adopted some right‑wing populist and nationalist positions, including a small far‑right faction. Opposition within the PSD to Bolojan’s course grew in recent months. Bolojan accused the PSD of acting as an opposition force while still formally in government and described the no‑confidence motion as “dishonest, cynical and artificial.”
The PSD’s cooperation with AUR drew concern and criticism in Europe, notably within the Socialists and Democrats Group of the European Parliament, of which PSD is a member.
What happens next
Constitutionally, the president can repeatedly nominate a prime ministerial candidate to try to form a new cabinet; each proposed government must win a confidence vote in parliament. If repeated attempts fail, the president may dissolve parliament, though he is not obliged to do so.
Some PNL members favour forming a new government with the PSD; USR and UDMR oppose that option. AUR says it will not form a coalition with PSD — viewing PSD as “establishment” — and wants snap elections quickly to try to expand on its 2024 results. President Nicuşor Dan, however, promptly ruled out early elections, calling the no‑confidence vote a “democratic decision,” urging calm and expressing confidence that consultations and constitutional steps will produce a new pro‑Western, pro‑European government.
This article was originally published in German.
