Boc Govt Survives 3rd No Confidence Vote in Romania

Romanian PM Boc (right) pictured here with his Bulgarian counterpart Borisov at a Danube Strategy meeting in November 2010. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The Romanian center-right government of Prime Minister Emil Boc has survived its third no confidence vote called over an unpopular public wages act.

The no confidence motion was rejected by a comfortable margin of 190 votes, with 236 needed to pass it, DPA reported. This time the Boc Cabinet – which has been implementing a rough austerity package to justify the EUR 20 B bailout from the IMF and the EU – survived by a wider margin than in the previous two no confidence motions.

The leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party, Victor Ponta, has stated that the party will challenge the wage law for 2011 at the Constitutional Court if the motion fails to overthrow the Government.

Last week Romanian PM Boc staked his survival on the fast-track approval of the unpopular public wages act, coupling its passing with a confidence vote; the law has automatically been accepted.

Despite the slim majority he holds in the parliament, Boc has already used the same mechanism twice in 2010 to pass legislation more quickly. Over the past two years, the Romanian government has sacked 70 000 civil servants, cut public wages by 25% and increased the VAT from 19% to 24%.

Another, fourth no confidence vote of the Boc government is due on Thursday but the Cabinet is also expected to defeat it.

On Sunday, Romanian parliamentary committees approved the 2011 State Budget Act including the IMF-backed requirements.

Romania has already received EUR 16 B from the EUR 20 B bailout package from the EU and the IMF.

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