“PSD can no longer be held captive while our social base is being destroyed,” Grindeanu told top party members in Bucharest Monday, using an acronym for the Social Democrats.
According to local media, hundreds of people gathered in the capital for an evening rally in support of Bolojan, who said in a press statement that he won’t resign. The prime minister accused the Social Democrats of “cowardly running” from responsibility for decisions they too had made.
“What we see today is the jeopardizing of our country’s finances, blowing up governing, all done with total lack of respect toward our country’s citizens,” Bolojan said. He faulted his coalition partners for destabilizing the country at a time of war in the Middle East and as Europe’s economy continues to stagnate.
Romania was plunged into political crisis in 2024 after a presidential election in the country was controversially annulled due to suspected foreign interference.
While the Social Democrats won the most seats in the Romanian parliament in late-2024 elections, the latest polls show support rising for the right-wing opposition Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, which finished second in the 2024 ballot. Alliance leader George Simion called for early elections Monday, even before the Social Democrats voted to dump Bolojan.
The Social Democrats and the liberals formed a shaky government with two other parties in early 2025, but the coalition was troubled by long-standing political animosities and Social Democrats’ rejection of austerity measures. Romania projected the largest budget deficit in the EU in 2025, at around 9 percent of GDP.
The government had initially agreed that Bolojan would run the country for the first two years, before ceding the leadership to a member of the Social Democrats.
Bolojan is expected to face a motion of no confidence in the country’s parliament next week, per Romanian media reports. Reuters reported that the Social Democrats have threatened to withdraw six of their ministers from the cabinet later this week.