Parliament votes down proposal to set schedule for motion of censure

On Thursday, a plenary sitting of Parliament voted down a proposal of the Save Romania Union (USR) Chamber of Deputies floor leader Ionut Mosteanu to put on the agenda setting a schedule for a debate on the motion of censure against Prime Minister Florin Citu.The vote was 117 ayes to 216 noes, after Senate Chair Anca Dragu took over the chairmanship of the sitting from Deputy Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Florin Roman.At the beginning of the sitting, Roman specified that joint plenary sittings are alternately chaired by the chairs of the two chambers.Mosteanu asked Roman to allow Dragu to preside over the sitting. Roman closed the sitting and left the rostrum of Parliament under pressure from MPs of the Save Romania Union - Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (USR PLUS) alliance and the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).After Roman announced closing the sitting, the chairmanship was taken over by Dragu.    The Citu Government is fallen anyway, whether with an anti-government motion or not, but if the no-confidence motion makes it to the agenda of the joint plenary, the Social Democratic Party (PSD - opposition) will vote to oust the Citu Government, Social Democrat Chairman Marcel Ciolacu said on Thursday."The government is led by the National Liberal Party, and Parliament is led by USR and PNL. There is a conflict inside this coalition. The Constitution must be respected. I don't understand why the leadership of the Chamber of Deputies, through Mr. Orban, and the leadership of the Senate, through Mrs. Dragu, did not call a joint plenary until now for the motion to be read. There was no need for a decision of the Joint Standing Bureaus, the Constitution had to be followed. The PSD did not vote with PNL and UDMR. It was their proposition that the reading should not take place either, which was a total nonsense. I don't understand why Speaker Orban notified the Government only after five days. Aren't they in power and don't they have the majority? At this moment they control all the functions in the state. What has the PSD got to do with this? The PSD respects the Constitution and the laws of the country. It is normal that we wait for the response of the Constitutional Court. (...) We are waiting for the Court's decision, I don't think it will come after the Liberal Convention, I think it will be much faster. We can put the motion to the vote and I said this very clearly - PSD will vote for any motion," Ciolacu said in a phone-in with private TV broadcaster Antena 3."Two things are clear: the Citu Government is fallen anyway, with or without motions. Next, if the motion makes it to the agenda of the joint plenary, PSD will vote for the fall of the Citu Government, this goes without discussion. But this political crisis is a hypocritical crisis, of blackmail by USR and of internal struggle in the Liberal camp. (...) Such hypocrisy and deviousness have never been seen before in Romanian politics," Marcel Ciolacu said.