Romania’s Social Democratic Party wants to fire its own Government but PM refuses to resign

The leaders of Romania’s Social Democratic Party (PSD) have threatened to withdraw the political support for the Government led by Social Democrat Sorin Grindeanu, according to political sources quoted by News.ro and Mediafax.ro. PSD leader Liviu Dragnea and the other members of the party’s executive committee are unhappy with the cabinet’s activity and with the fact that some of the projects included in the party’s governing program have been delayed. The party finished on Sunday an evaluation of the Government’s activity and will officially announce the decision taken following this evaluation on Wednesday, June 14. Meanwhile, PSD leader Liviu Dragnea apparently asked Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu to resign during meetings they had on Monday evening and Tuesday afternoon. He told the PM that PSD would withdraw the support for his cabinet, one that is made of a majority of PSD members. However, Grindeanu said he would not resign, according to political sources quoted by News.ro. During the talks in the last two days, Dragnea reproached Grindeanu for the delays in implementing some projects included in the governing program, such as the launch of the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund. Only three ministers of Grindeanu’s cabinet apparently passed the evaluation made by the PSD leaders and the Prime Minister is not one of them. The ministers that did best were interior minister Carmen Dan, labor minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu, and agriculture minister Petre Daea, according to official sources. Meanwhile, some of the least popular ministers are finance minister Viorel Stefan and justice minister Tudorel Toader. Both have been criticized by PSD leader Dragnea on several occasions because of their decisions. In fact, PSD executive president Niculae Badalau, the party’s second-in-command, said on Tuesday that the Finance Ministry, Transport Ministry, and Agriculture Ministry had the biggest delays in fulfilling their projects. Liviu Dragnea said on Sunday, after the end of the evaluation period, that he didn’t exclude a change of the whole Government, if the party concluded that this was necessary. He added that he didn’t want to get to this. However, some of the PSD leaders have been more vocal lately in criticizing the cabinet’s activity. Grindeanu’s main critic has been Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea, who was the first to suggest that the Prime Minister may be changed with a woman from his cabinet or from the Parliament. Interior minister Carmen Dan, one of Dragnea’s close collaborators, and labor minister Lia Olguta Vasilescu are among those best positioned to replace Grindeanu, according to media speculations.