Parliament rejected, on Friday, the motion of censure initiated by AUR, S.O.S Romania and POT. There were 147 votes “for” and one vote “against”.
The PSD, PNL, USR, minorities and UDMR parliamentarians did not vote. In order to adopt this motion, the favorable votes of the majority of deputies and senators were needed, respectively 233.
The debates were heated, with the Prime Minister’s speech in Parliament being interrupted by boos from the hall, necessitating the intervention of the chairman of the session. Marcel Ciolacu accused the initiators of the motion, the sovereignist parties, of using God as an “electoral agent”.
The leader of the party that initiated the motion, AUR President George Simion, told Prime Minister Ciolacu on Friday to take his meditator and leave, until the tide comes, because when the tide comes, everyone will pay for the misery they have committed. Simion also sent a message to those who do not vote for the motion:
“You are complicit, all of you who will not vote for this motion!” In his speech, the AUR leader criticized the very bad, unprecedented way in which the Romanian state functions, in which no institution is reformed.
“You don’t understand why you have to leave, Marcele. You managed to corrupt enough parliamentarians not to vote on the motion against you today. Let me explain to you the reasons why you have to leave. You made fun of the organization of all the elections in 2024. I’ll put it in your own words, Marcele. You hit them, damn it. You merged, you recounted, you canceled, you are the main culprit, together with Klaus Werner Iohannis, for the destruction of democracy in Romania”, said Simion from the rostrum.
He accused Prime Minister Ciolacu of destroying the economy and asked him where the joint candidate Crin Antonescu had his tax residence for 10 years. “Let’s talk about the way you made fun of your pensioners and promised them pension indexation, let’s talk about the way you increased taxes, even though you also got a tattoo on Tik Tok, Marcel, let’s talk about the way you made fun of the reduction of administrative positions. Let’s talk about his nephew and your niece, Marcel. You are the ugly, black, ugly face of the system that has made fun of the country for 35 years. You, the cardboard revolutionary from Buzău”, George Simion also declared.
The President of the Young People’s Party (POT), Anamaria Gavrilă, who also voted for the motion asked Prime Minister Ciolacu to leave because the FBI is coming.
“The Ciolacu government is endangering national security. Emil Hurezeanu, as Foreign Minister, caused a serious diplomatic scandal, through his statements about the meeting with Richard Grenell from the Trump administration, affecting Romania’s international relations. Ciolacu failed to reshuffle Hurezeanu. At the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Cătălin Predoiu is resorting to excessive force in abusive searches against Călin Georgescu’s supporters. An intimidation tactic unworthy of a democracy,” said the POT President, Anamaria Gavrilă, during the Parliament debate on the censure motion.
She specified that a state that persecutes its own citizens cannot be called a democracy. “A minister who abuses his position will pay,” the POT deputy also said.
Anamaria Gavrilă accused the Ciolacu Government of rigging the elections. “They need a new round of elections so that they can finally come up with a candidate who, by rigging the elections, can justify a possible win in a second round. Because otherwise, Călin Georgescu beats you from any position. But the vote of the Romanians will not be trampled on. We are here and we are not going anywhere,” she said.
PM Ciolacu to AUR, POT, SOS: “You have taken God as an electoral agent”
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu took the floor in the plenary session of Parliament and accused the initiators of the motion – the AUR, SOS Romania and POT parties – of using God as an “electoral agent”.
“You have no politics. Your doctrine is shock and false piety. You continuously fuel anger and paranoia, while you talk to us about a divine plan for Romania. God is love. Not hate! You have no God! You only have false Messiahs. And you took God as an electoral agent and you take his name in vain every day. Don’t you feel sorry for all the priests who died in communist prisons for their faith, while you use God precisely to return Romania to those horrors?!”, said the prime minister.
He defended the government’s policies and says that investments for development are needed. “Well-being is not built through telepathy.” Ciolacu says the motion will not pass. “Fortunately for Romania, your plan of destruction will fail miserably today. The motion will not pass, and our country will continue to have a functional government.” He reiterated the idea that Romania will not send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.