Romania’s Crisis Spirals as Parliament Rejects PM-Designate’s Govt

Siegfried Muresan during the vote on his proposed cabinet, 30 September 2026. Photo: EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT. Romania’s parliament on Wednesday rejected the programme and proposed cabinet of Siegfried Muresan, a Member of the European Parliament, adding to the country’s political crisis. The Prime Minister-designate needed 233 votes for his government to be approved. He received only 182. “The parties that triggered the political crisis have voted to prolong it … We are now waiting to see what position the President … will take,” Muresan said after the result was announced. His proposed cabinet was backed by the centre-right National Liberals, PNL, and two smaller former coalition partners, but the Social Democrats, PSD, the biggest party in parliament, rejected it. The far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians, AUR, the second-largest party in parliament, also declined to endorse Mureșan. Party leader George Simion said the AUR would not vote for any government until the far-right politician Calin Georgescu “is freed from prison”. A court on Tuesday ordered 30 days’ detention for former presidential candidate Georgescu, who is accused of defrauding a businessman of more than 1 million euros. President Nicusor Dan must now nominate another Prime Minister-designate, who will have ten days to put together a cabinet and seek parliament’s approval. Under the law, the President may dissolve parliament and call an early election if two prime ministers-designate fail to secure parliamentary backing within 60 days. However, Dan has ruled out an early election, arguing that it would likely fail to produce a strong parliamentary majority. Since May 5, Romania has been operating under an interim government, following the collapse of the previous cabinet. During this period, Dan has made two previous nominations for prime minister, both of whom failed to secure parliamentary support. In June, independent Eugen Tomac, the first of them, withdrew before even facing a parliamentary vote. Three weeks later, parliament rejected the proposed programme and cabinet of liberal politician Adrian Vestea. Romania’s political crisis stems from deep tensions among the parties that previously formed the pro-European governing coalition. The coalition, formed in June 2025, brought together the centre-left PSD, the centre-right National Liberal Party, PNL, and two smaller centre-right parties. One of its main objectives was to curb the rise of the far-right AUR. Its mandate included stabilising the economy, which is burdened by the largest budget deficit in the European Union, securing access to 11 billion euros in EU recovery funds and safeguarding Romania’s investment-grade credit rating. But unpopular austerity measures introduced to cut the budget deficit placed growing strain on the coalition, particularly with the Social Democrats, who withdrew support in May.