Romanian Government Survives Confidence Vote, Affirming Majority

(Bloomberg) -- Romania’s government survived a no-confidence vote in parliament, reaffirming the ruling coalition’s majority in the legislature as Prime Minister Florin Citu continues to chart a course out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The opposition Social Democrats, who triggered the bid to oust Citu’s cabinet over disagreements about the country’s recovery plan, failed to secure the necessary 234 votes after the lawmakers from the governing alliance attended Tuesday’s meeting but declined to participate.

“Governing is going very well, the coalition is strong, united and ready to stay in power for at least eight more years,” Citu said before the vote. “We have taken the best measures for the economy and we have the fastest rebound in the country’s history after a crisis.”

Romania, one of the European Union’s most politically-volatile countries with nine prime ministers in the past decade, is recovering from the coronavirus crisis at a faster pace than most other member states. But a vaccination campaign that got off to a good start is now slowing, with only 23% of citizens fully inoculated -- a trend that risks undermining the economy’s recovery as the disease’s delta variant spreads.

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