Romania's government toppled by no-confidence vote
Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă's social democratic cabinet was toppled by a no-confidence vote on Thursday. The government had lost its majority after the withdrawal of its coalition partner Alde. Dăncilă, who had been in office since January, was often criticised not just for her policies, but for her frequent grammatical errors. Romania's press is at odds over what comes next.
The Dăncilă cabinet was a permanent insult
Florin Negruțiu of the republica.ro blog is pleased that Dăncilă is being replaced as head of government:
“I hope this will be the last time I have to write about Viorica Dăncilă. This woman was a permanent insult to the well-educated in Romania who know their business and speak Romanian correctly. While tens of thousands of young people left the country every year because they were convinced they wouldn't find a place here, the government was led by a bizarre, old-fashioned puppet. She committed endless blunders. She smashed all the porcelain that got in her way - in domestic policy and especially in foreign policy. And the government was just like her: a bunch of untalented, arrogant fools. ... Horrendous.”
Administration is full of cronies
Contributors suspects that the administrative apparatus will boycott the new government:
“The administrative structures are full of people - also at the decision-making level - who were put there by the [social democratic] PSD. This is hardly surprising given that the PSD has been in power since 2012 and has dominated the local administration in many places for three decades. Of course, not all the functionaries are incompetent or deliberately malicious. But it's unlikely that this apparatus will react enthusiastically to the demands that will come from the new executive. ... Many people imagine that once you have installed ministers and junior ministers you have the levers of power in your hands. They are utterly mistaken. You can't accomplish much without the support of the people in the administration.”