Romanian coalition crisis talks fail, junior ally eyes PM removal

Barna said the USR-Plus has been gathering 123 signatures for a no-confidence vote with the help of nationalist party AUR, after its justice minister was sacked when he opposed a local infrastructure development funding scheme. The 10 billion-euro financing programme designed by Citu's Liberals to support local communities' infrastructure projects was approved by the government earlier in the day.

Crisis talks between Romania's ruling coalition partners failed on Friday to yield a deal to support Liberal Prime Minister Florin Citu, with a junior grouping seeking to topple him in a vote of no-confidence with the help of ultra-nationalists.

A fracture of the three-party, nine-month-old centrist coalition, which includes an ethnic Hungarian group and the USR-Plus juniors, could endanger an ambitious governmental agenda to reduce Romania's budget and current account deficits. "We hope to have a new prime minister so that our coalition goes further, but without Florin Citu," USR leader Dan Barna told reporters. "He lost our trust."

The coalition has jointly controlled 56% of parliament. Barna said the USR-Plus has been gathering 123 signatures for a no-confidence vote with the help of nationalist party AUR, after its justice minister was sacked when he opposed a local infrastructure development funding scheme.

The 10 billion-euro financing programme designed by Citu's Liberals to support local communities' infrastructure projects was approved by the government earlier in the day. To pass, the USR-Plus motion of no-confidence would need at least 234 votes, with the bulk of leftist opposition Social Democrats deputies required to back it. They, however, stopped short of explicitly saying how they would vote.

Citu urged his partners earlier in the day to try stay united, to be able to rebuild the economy after the coronavirus pandemic despite the row over the sacking of the justice minister and other policy disagreements. "Only this (three-party) coalition is feasible for Romania. It's that political setup that can handle European Union's recovery plan, our local development, and make use of EU money," Citu said before the coalition meeting.

"We have all promised investments to Romanians." To oust Citu's cabinet, the USR-Plus would need to race against the clock to convince over the next days the opposition Social Democrats, who it previously clashed with over attempts to dilute the rule of law.

Citu, a relative newcomer but backed by centrist President Klaus Iohannis, hopes to win the Liberal Party leadership in an internal election this month.

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