de Oana Popescu-Zamfir
Ilie Bolojan’s toppling in a no-confidence vote has exposed Romania’s fiscal and political insecurities. Rebuilding the country’s pro-European coalition could bring stability, but at the expense of further populist backsliding over the long term.
Romania no longer has a fully functioning government. On May 5th, a no-confidence vote initiated by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) toppled reformist prime minister Ilie Bolojan. The PSD’s motive was to protect its grip on state patronage networks—but now no one wants the top job.
