Romanian
PM Ponta steps down after protests
The
Social Democrat premier was already under pressure over corruption
charges.
By ANCA GURZU AND
CARMEN PAUN 11/4/15, 10:26 AM CET Updated 11/4/15, 9:44 PM CET
Romanian Prime
Minister Victor Ponta quit Wednesday, triggering the collapse of his
coalition government, after thousands of protesters demanded his
resignation over a nightclub fire which brought to a head wider
public dissatisfaction.
Anger over the fire
in Bucharest last Friday, in which 32 people died, escalated into a
protest by about 25,000 people Tuesday night outside the Social
Democrat premier’s office in Victory Square. Demonstrators also
called for the resignation of Interior Minister Gabriel Oprea, whose
National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR) was Ponta’s
junior coalition partner.
Ponta, who was
already under pressure to leave following corruption charges in
September, announced that “as of today I give up my mandate as
prime minister.”
“I have the
obligation to notice the legitimate dissatisfaction that exists
within society. People feel the need for more and it would be a
mistake on my part to ignore this fact,” he said in a statement.
The head of Ponta’s
Social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea, told reporters that the prime
minister was stepping down because “someone needs to assume
responsibility for what has happened.”
But Dragnea
acknowledged that some in the coalition were not quite so keen to
take responsibility for the fire at the Colectiv Club, where an
illegal fireworks display during a live music performance started the
blaze. Protesters blamed national and local authorities for lax
safety standards which led to the fire, in which more than 100 people
also suffered severe burns.
The mayor of the
Bucharest district where the club was located, Cristian Popescu
Piedone, also resigned after protesters blamed him for allowing the
club to function without complying with fire regulations to host
large crowds and pyrotechnic shows.
“Corruption
kills,” was one of the slogans during Tuesday night’s
demonstration.
“People had to die
for this resignation to happen” — President Klaus Iohannis.
Dragnea said the
Social Democrats would meet their partners in the governing coalition
later on Wednesday to decide how to move forward.
The main opposition
National Liberal Party was also meeting to discuss next steps.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, a former head of the Liberal
party, had already called for Ponta’s resignation over his
corruption indictment.
The president said
he would summon leaders of the political parties on Thursday or
Friday to discuss how to form a new government, adding however that
Romanian politics was in need of a much deeper transformation.
“We cannot believe
that a simple change of government solves Romania’s problems or
those of the Romanian political class,” he told reporters. “People
had to die for this resignation to happen. Those people wouldn’t
have died if rules and laws had been enforced.”
Paul Ivan, senior
analyst at the European Policy Centre, said the “popular wave of
anger” happened against a background of wider dissatisfaction with
the government.
“Both PM Ponta and
interior minister Oprea are known to have plagiarised their PhD
theses and refused to resign after this was proven true. Moreover,
the prime minister had refused to resign even after he was put
earlier this year under investigation for corruption, money
laundering and tax evasion,” Ivan said.
In late October,
Oprea was accused of abusing his position by overusing police
motorcades, after a young officer from his security detail died on
duty.
Ponta lost the
presidential elections to Iohannis a year ago and then had to cede
the leadership of his party to his political rival Dragnea, which
further weakened his power base.
With Ponta gone, his
party is likely to try to form another government with the UNPR, said
Ivan.
Romania may opt for
an interim, technocratic government until parliamentary elections due
next year, said Ionut Tata, president of the Pro-Democracy
Association in Romania. Another option would be an attempt by the
Social Democrats to form a new government — but without Oprea’s
UNPR because of the interior minister’s loss of credibility in
recent scandals, he said.
“The Social
Democrats saved themselves with Ponta’s resignation,” said Tata.
This article was
updated to include remarks by the Romanian president.
Authors:
Anca Gurzu and
Carmen Paun
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