Romanian Prime Minister to Resign After Feud With Party Boss

• January 15 2018
• Andra Timu

Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose will resign after losing the backing of the ruling party amid a dispute with its powerful head.

Romania’s government collapsed for the second time in a year as Prime Minister Mihai Tudose lost a struggle with the Black Sea nation’s powerful ruling-party boss.

Tudose, 50, resigned Monday as the Social Democrats withdrew support for him following a five-hour-long crisis meeting in Bucharest. Tensions between the premier and party leader Liviu Dragnea had been building for weeks, most recently over Tudose’s plans to reshuffle the cabinet and his desire to replace the interior minister because of a child-abuse scandal inside the police.

Romania, an ex-communist member of the European Union and NATO, is no stranger to political upheaval: it’s had 14 prime ministers since 1990, with only two completing their full term. Dragnea, whose party toppled its own government last June amid a similar spat with then-Premier Sorin Grindeanu, can’t lead the cabinet himself because of a criminal conviction. The latest shakeup comes as the economy grows at one of the EU’s fastest paces and as the nation’s currency is this year’s star performer in eastern Europe.

“The country suffers from this political instability since we have no guarantee it won’t also happen with a new premier,” Cristian Pirvulesc, dean of Bucharest’s Political Science University, said by phone. “They can only afford to do this because there’s practically no solid opposition and early elections are hard to trigger.”

Economic Boom

The new premier will take over an economy that surged an annual 8.8 percent in the third quarter, though the central bank and the European Commission have warned about the sustainability of growth and the budgetary dangers of the Social Democrats’ tax cuts and public-sector wage hikes. Despite the political tensions, Romania’s leu has gained 0.7 percent against the euro in 2018 as the central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates for the first time in a decade and signaled more increases to come.

While the Social Democrats won elections convincingly in 2016, President Klaus Iohannis must decide whether to nominate a new premier from inside that party, given the political turmoil. Dragnea said he won’t propose Tudose’s replacement, handing that task to his party colleagues because his past picks haven’t worked out.

“The conclusion of the debates was that there are tensions and a conflict between the party and the government and inside the government as well,” Dragnea said. “The premier’s latest public statements haven’t helped ease this and these kinds of issues must be solved inside the party.”

‘That’s Life’

Tudose fell out with Dragnea over plans to streamline his cabinet by abolishing some positions, while the interior minister he wanted to fire is an ally of the party head. Tudose declined to stay on as interim prime minister, despite having talks scheduled Tuesday with Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe.

“I’m leaving with my head held high,” Tudose said late Monday in televised comments. “My colleagues are satisfied with the government’s work but that’s life.”