The political crisis in Romania was deliberately caused by president Klaus Iohannis, who wants to align the future government in Romania, made up of PNL and PSD, a rehashed version of the former USL, with the German Social-Democrats, who are expected to win the election in Germany.
NEWS: “The elections in Germany have been closely watched for over a month both by the presidency and “from the shadows”, with far greater interest and concern than the “legendary” battle between Florin Cîțu and Ludovic Orban for the presidency of PNL. The expected victory of the German left-wing coalition led by SPD, has boosted the approval ratings of PSD in Bucharest, and caught the purported right-wing Romanian president (“Jó napot kívánok, PSD!”) at a disadvantage. The “right-wing” alliance with USR-PLUS and UDMR could spell trouble for the “teleprompter” at Cotroceni Palace. The supporters of USR PLUS, including those in the USA (George Soros and the like) as well as those in France (Emmanuel Macron and his party, LREM), seem to experience one of their most severe crises. The COVID crisis, the severe crisis of the Biden administration, culminating in the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the uninterrupted protests against Macron in France may take USR-PLUS’s international benefactors out of the game, causing them to lose interest in the underground state in Bucharest”, reads an editorial published by activenews.ro.
NARRATIVES: 1. Klaus Iohannis caused the political crisis in Romania in order to recreate USL, jointly with PSD, so that the future Government should be aligned with the German Social-Democrats, who are expected to take power in Berlin. 2. “The underground state” no longer favors a right-wing alliance, because they are no longer happy with the US and European partners of these right-wing parties.
BACKGROUND: Germany will hold parliamentary elections on September 26, and opinion polls are uncertain as to who is going to win and the alliance that might be formed to create a government.
On the other hand, Romania is seeing a great of political turmoil, after the junior coalition partners decided to step down from the government in response to the Liberal Prime Minister’s decision to sack the Justice Minister without prior consultations with his allies. USR-PLUS Ministers resigned and the party filed, jointly with AUR, a no-confidence motion against the Liberal Prime Minister (which, if adopted, will lead to the demise of the whole Cabinet). USR-PLUS wants the ruling coalition to move forward, but also wants Prime Minister Florin Cîțu out of the office for the alliance to work. Florin Cîțu is accused by USR-PLUS of dismissing, jointly with president Klaus Iohannis, certain ministers who stood against him.
The no-confidence motion has not been voted yet, and there is a possibility Florin Cîțu won’t win the election for the leadership of PNL at the forthcoming Congress on September 25.
A number of political scenarios circulated in the press refer to the possibility of recreating the Social-Liberal Union (USL), a political project previously designed by former PSD leader, Victor Ponta, and former PNL leader, Crin Antonescu.
PURPOSE: To present a distorted and deceptive image of the political crisis in Romania.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Although the article speaks about the imminent victory of the Social-Democratic Party (SPD) in the upcoming elections in Germany, the result can still go either way. According to the latest polls published by The Guardian, the German Social-Democrats have an approval rating of 25.5%, followed by Angela Merkel’s right-wing CDU/CSU alliance with 21.4%, the Greens with 16.2%, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) with 11.6%, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 11.4% and the Left Party (Die Linke – communists) with 6.1%.
Under these circumstances, it is unclear what the future ruling coalition in Berlin will look like. In fact, there’s also a possibility SPD might strike a political alliance with CDU. Moreover, the two parties previously ruled together in February 2018, when they created an alliance.
On the other hand, Iohannis doesn’t need PSD to build a relationship with SPD. As president, Iohannis has good top-level relations with Germany, being an ethnic German himself. The author of the article also suggests Romania might be subordinated to the new power in Berlin, which is one of the main narratives of Russian propaganda about Romania.
Furthermore, the Cîțu Cabinet still stands, and a future ruling coalition between USR-PLUS and PNL is still on the table, considering Cîțu might lose the internal election in PNL. In addition, Ludovic Orban also said he would restore the right-wing alliance with USR-PLUS in less than 48 hours.
The author also reiterates conspiracy theories revolving around a “deep state – a parallel or underground state” which allegedly steers the political actions of USR-PLUS. He claims that USR-PLUS doesn’t just have “internal masters”, but also carries out the orders of the United States, George Soros and other European leaders such as French president Emmanuel Macron.
GRAIN OF TRUTH: Elections will take place in Germany on September 26, and Romania is experiencing a political crisis with an unforeseeable outcome.
