Parliament meeting for investiture of Orban Gov't II couldn't be held due to lack of quorum

Parliament's meeting for the investiture of the Orban Government II was closed on Monday by Speaker of the Deputies' Chamber Marcel Ciolacu, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) interim Chairman, who announced that there was no quorum to carry out the works. The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies announced that out of 456 MPs, only 188 registered their presence. "Because there is no quorum, I declare the meeting closed," Ciolacu mentioned. According to the joint regulation of the Deputies' Chamber and the Senate, in order for the meeting for the investiture of the Orban Gov't II to be carried out, at least 233 MPs need to be present so they can ensure the necessary quorum of joint meetings. The PSD, the Pro Romania and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) announced that their MPs would not attend the meeting. The meeting was held on the same day that the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) established that there is a legal conflict between the President and Parliament regarding the designation of PNL leader Ludovic Orban as Prime Minister. On 10 February, PM-designate Ludovic Orban lodged in Parliament the list of the new Cabinet, which included the same ministers as in the previous Government, as well as an updated governing programme. On 17, 18 and 19 February, the hearings of the proposed ministers took place in the parliamentary committees. Only four out of the 16 proposed ministers received a positive opinion - Nicolae Ciuca, Bogdan Aurescu, Virgil Popescu and Adrian Oros, whereas the rest of them received a negative opinion. The opinion of the parliamentary committees is advisory. AGERPRES (RO - author: Alina Novaceanu, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Rodica State, editor: Cristina Zaharia)