No-confidence vote initiated against Romanian cabinet

October 8, 2009 The Romanian main opposition National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (UDMR) both filed a vote of no-confidence against the cabinet on Tuesday.

The opposition has said that the cabinet is illegal and lacks parliamentary support, now that members from the Social Democratic Party (PSD) have quit their posts, over the sacking last week of Interior Minister Dan Nica. Their duties were assumed by other ministers from Prime Minister Emil Boc's Liberal Democrats (PDL).

If the motion passes, the cabinet may continue working, but will be unable to make any key decisions until a new cabinet is selected. Earlier in the day, Boc announced that his cabinet will seek a vote of confidence on the pension bill, which envisions gradually increasing the retirement age for women. A similar process will be applied to men, in a bid to keep them in the workforce longer to boost the economy.