Romania's prime minister and his government have been ousted in a no-confidence vote submitted by ruling party members.

A total of 241 lawmakers approved the motion Wednesday (21 June), more than the 233 votes required. The governing Social Democratic Party filed the motion to oust Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, saying that he had failed to implement the party's political agenda.

Grindeanu had refused to resign and rejects the assessment of his performance. He claims powerful party leader Liviu Dragnea wants to remove him in order to have a party loyalist as premier.

Dragnea is barred from being prime minister because of a 2016 conviction for vote-rigging.

Grindeanu, who studied at Leeds Beckett University among other institutions, became Prime Minister of Romania on 4 January 2017. His time in power was marred by protests targeting his government's attempts to decriminalise certain types of official misconduct, including in cases where the financial damage is less than £38,000. </s> BUCHAREST: Romania's Social Democrat government of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu on Sunday repealed a decree decriminalising some graft offences, a government source said.

"The decree was scrapped," a government official told Reuters, adding that an official statement would be released soon.

Romania's prime minister said on Saturday he was would scrap the decree following mass protests. It would have shielded dozens of politicians from prosecution for corruption. </s> BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's Social Democrat government of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu on Sunday repealed a decree decriminalizing some graft offences, a government source said.

"The decree was scrapped," a government official told Reuters, adding that an official statement would be released soon.

Romania's prime minister said on Saturday he was would scrap the decree following mass protests. It would have shielded dozens of politicians from prosecution for corruption. </s> BUCHAREST, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Romania's month-old government expects to easily survive a no-confidence motion and "get back to work" on Wednesday, the prime minister said, after mass street protests forced it into an embarrassing U-turn over a graft decree.

Critics said the decree, which also drew condemnation from Romania's Western allies, would have turned back the clock on the fight against corruption in the ex-communist nation. The government rescinded the decree on Sunday.

Despite the scale of the protests, the largest Romania has seen since the 1989 fall of communism, the ruling Social Democrats and their allies have a large majority in parliament after winning a December election.

"This motion has no scope and no target," Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu told lawmakers at the start of the debate on the motion. "I do hope that as of today we get back to work."

Grindeanu, whose government has been badly shaken by the protests, pledged not to consider any further initiatives similar to the decree "that could awake powerful emotions in society without proper and wide debate".

The decree would have decriminalised a number of graft offences and effectively shielded dozens of public officials from prosecution for graft.

Before the debate, around a dozen protesters wrote RESIST in the snow that had fallen overnight in front of the government headquarters. But the number of people attending daily protests - which reached a quarter of a million on Sunday - has fallen sharply since the government's climbdown.

The text of the no-confidence motion, signed by 123 members of opposition parties, read: "Romanian society has been betrayed and the citizen has been lied to by those who were granted his vote during the election."

Raluca Turcan, the leader of the centre-right National Liberal party, told the debate: "The only solution is your urgent resignation. You must pay with your jobs."

Social Democrat sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, have told Reuters they expect Justice Minister Florin Iordache to submit his resignation on Wednesday.

Parliament must still endorse the government's decision to rescind the graft decree. That vote is expected to come towards the end of the week. (Additional reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Matt Robinson and Gareth Jones) </s> BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s prime minister and his government have been ousted in a no-confidence vote submitted by ruling party members.

A total of 241 lawmakers approved the motion Wednesday, more than the 233 votes required. The governing Social Democratic Party filed the motion to oust Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, saying that he had failed to implement the party’s political agenda.

Grindeanu had refused to resign and rejects the assessment of his performance. He claims powerful party leader Liviu Dragnea wants to remove him to have a party loyalist as premier.

Dragnea is barred from being prime minister because of a 2016 conviction for vote-rigging. </s> Romania has withdrawn controversial amendments to corruption laws, as nationwide protests against high-level graft entered a sixth day.

Fulfilling a promise made late on Saturday, the government announced on Sunday it had approved a repeal of a contentious decree that would have decriminalised certain corruption offences.

The ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu had originally approved the ordinance late on Tuesday, with no input from the country's parliament, sparking the biggest demonstrations in the country in decades.

After repealing the decree, Grindeanu asked the justice minister to prepare a draft law to be sent to parliament for debate and approval.

The centre-left Social Democratic Party has a parliamentary majority with a junior partner. President Klaus Iohannis, who is expected to speak later on Sunday, then needs to sign off on the legislation.

Yet, the announcement did not stop demonstrators gathering again, with thousands of people protesting against what they deem an alarming retreat in the country's fight against corruption.

"It has gone, the amendments are history, but the protesters are still not trusting the prime minister," Al Jazeera's David Chater, reporting from the capital, Bucharest, said.

Chater said demonstrators are questioning Grindeanu's competence, with many calling him and his government to "go".

"Why did he try and rush through this legislation? What else will happen? They [protesters] are not happy with the way things are going," Chater said.

"They want to see the government cleaning up its act, being much more transparent. They're not really celebrating a victory, they want to make sure that this government changes its approach."

OPINION: Romania: Keep the corrupt in jail, where they belong

Grindeanu said on Saturday he would scrap the measure, as requested by Iohannis, as he did not want to "divide Romania".

The decree was to make abuse of power a crime only punishable by jail if the sums involved exceeded 200,000 lei (44,000 euros, $47,500).

Grindeanu's government said it would align the penal code with the constitution, but critics saw it as a clear attempt by the ruling party to let off many of its own officials and policy makers.

The street protests have been on a scale not seen since the fall of communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989. </s> Romania’s government is ot scrap a decree decriminalising some graft offences, Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu said on Saturday, as some 140,000 demonstrators protested against the law a stone’s throw from his office.

“We’ll hold an extraordinary meeting on Sunday to repeal the decree, withdraw, cancel it … you understand, and find a legal way to make sure it does not take effect,” Grindeanu said in televised speech from the cabinet’s headquarters.

Călin Tăriceanu, head of the ALDE party – a junior partner of the ruling Social Democrats – told Romania TV: “This [happens] because we have nothing to hide.”

The news came after a fifth consecutive day of protests against the proposed law, which saw tens of thousands of Romanians take to the streets all around the country. An even bigger turnout had been predicted for Sunday. 



Grindeanu said the proposal would be sent to parliament for debate. The prime minister said he did not want to “divide Romania” and that “Romania in this moment seems broken in two.” The country’s constitutional court is expected to rule next week on whether the measure was legal.

Earlier on Saturday the coalition government had hinted that it was considering backing down on the legislation. Liviu Dragnea, head of the ruling Social Democratic party, had told DC News that he was meeting Grindeanu to propose a solution. “We can possibly talk about repealing the decree, if the prime minister agrees,” Dragnea had said.

The overtures were not, however, enough to deter protesters. Thousands of Romanians formed a human chain around the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest and there were also large-scale protests in the cities of Cluj, Timişoara, Sibiu, Constanța and Braşov.



The government had come under pressure at home and abroad to repeal the emergency decree passed on Wednesday, which waters down the country’s anti-corruption measures. </s> Critics said the decree, which also drew rebukes from Romania's Western allies, would have turned back the clock on the fight against corruption in the ex-communist nation of 20 million people. The government rescinded the decree on Sunday.

"I do hope that as of today we get back to work," Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu told lawmakers before the vote.

At least 5,000 protesters gathered outside government headquarters late on Wednesday to demand the cabinet's resignation, despite a snowstorm, subzero temperatures and power blackouts. "We exist, we resist," they chanted.

Separately, an estimated 200 pro-government protesters gathered outside centrist President Klaus Iohannis' office in support of Grindeanu. Iohannis briefly went outside to talk to them but they refused dialogue.

The Social Democrats and their allies control nearly two thirds of parliament seats after winning a December election. They abstained in Wednesday's vote, when 161 lawmakers backed the no-confidence motion and eight voted against.

The government, however, has been badly shaken by the protests, some of the largest in Romania since the 1989 fall of communism, and opposition parties vowed after Wednesday's vote to continue their close scrutiny of the ruling party's actions.

One minister resigned last week saying he could not support the decree. Grindeanu said a decision on whether to dismiss Justice Minister Florin Iordache, the decree's architect, would be announced on Thursday.

Opposition deputy Catalin Predoiu said of the no-confidence motion: "This is a warning signal that we managed to gather the votes of the whole opposition and it also shows that whenever the new government derails we will gather and sanction it."

Grindeanu said his government would not consider any further initiatives similar to the rescinded decree "that could awake powerful emotions in society without proper and wide debate".

The decree would have decriminalized a number of graft offences and effectively shielded dozens of public officials from prosecution for graft.

The number of people attending daily protests - which reached a quarter of a million on Sunday - has fallen since the government's climbdown.

Parliament must still endorse the government's decision to rescind the graft decree.

Social Democrat Party leader Liviu Dragnea, who is on trial in an abuse of office case and could have benefited from the decree, said the repeal should be discussed and approved in parliament as soon as possible.

Earlier on Wednesday the Constitutional Court rejected challenges on procedural grounds brought against the rescinded decree by President Iohannis and the top magistrates' council.

The court said it would reconvene on Thursday to consider a separate challenge brought by Romania's ombudsman against the content of the decree.

Romania remains one of the poorest and most graft-prone member states of the European Union, which it joined in 2007. </s> BUCHAREST (REUTERS) - Romania's prime minister said on Saturday (Feb 4) he was scrapping a decree that would have shielded dozens of politicians from prosecution for corruption, bowing to one of the biggest protests since the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.

Sorin Grindeanu said the decree - which decriminalised several graft offences in what the government said was a bid to relive pressure on the prison system - would be repealed on Sunday, just five days after is was approved by the Cabinet.

It would have come into force at the end of next week. "I do not want to divide Romania. Romania can't be split into two. Right now Romania seems broken in two. My last desire is to witness this," Grindeanu said, referring to the public disgust at the decree which brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets every day since it was passed.

While he made the announcement live on television, some of the anti-corruption protesters outside his office, which police estimated at 170,000, chanted: "Resign! Resign!" and waved the Romanian flag.

Soon after, an image of a map of Romania was laser-projected onto a nearby building, with the words: "We WOKE UP!" Protests in some 70 cities nationwide were estimated by police to number 330,000 people.

"They must go. This is an incompetent government," said one protester who gave his name as Gabriel. "We don't want to see this repeated. We won't give up."

The decree, seen by its critics as the biggest retreat on reforms since Romania joined the European Union in 2007, would have exempted abuse-of-power offences involving sums below 200,000 lei (S$67,000) from prosecution - shielding hundreds of officials from justice.

It could have put an end to the ongoing trial of the head of the ruling Social Democrats (PSD) Liviu Dragnea, viewed as the real power behind Grindeanu's government which took office last month.

Dragnea, whose conviction for electoral fraud barred him from office, is accused of using his political influence to secure state salaries for two people working at his party headquarters between 2006 and 2013. He denies wrongdoing.

Dozens of political figures from all parties stood to benefit from the decree.

Nine Western powers including Germany and the United States said they were deeply concerned the decree could undermine Romania's partnerships in the EU and Nato.
The government of Prime Minister of Romania Sorin Grindeanu survives a no-confidence motion over proposed decriminalisation of certain corruption offences, with 161 MPs voting in favor of the motion, short of the 232 votes needed for it to pass.