Romanian parliament to vote on censure motion against Florin Citu’s government

The Romanian Parliament will vote today on a censure motion against Prime Minister Florin Citu’s center-right coalition government.

The opposition left-wing Social Democrat Party (PSD) brought the motion against Citu’s National Liberal Party-led government over the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the government’s official COVID-19 recovery plan. It would use $35.7 billion of EU funding on investment projects across six designated areas, including “green transition” and “social and territorial cohesion.” The PSD criticized Citu for not presenting the full NRRP to parliament, alleging that it will distribute money only to corporate interests favored by the government.

The censure motion needs backing from at least 233 of parliament’s 465 members to pass. Citu’s coalition falls short at 214 seats, while the opposition PSD will need to secure another 76 votes on top of its 157 members to oust Citu.

Expect Citu’s government to survive the censure motion. His coalition will likely rely on the similarly center-right Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania, whose 29 votes will create an insurmountable gap for the PSD. Due to the censure, the European Commission likely will develop a more explicit legally binding framework during its review of NRRP to guide Romania’s use of funds.