PSD

Romanian Far-Rightists Storm Digital Environment

Following the rejection of the so-called "Sovereignty Bill" by Romania's Chamber of Deputies on May 10, the political climate has further deteriorated.

The bicameral Romanian parliament on Tuesday elected two new judges at the Constitutional Court - Bogdan Licu and Laura-Iuliana Scantei, both of whom are believed to be close to President Klaus Iohannis.

Licu, who was nominated by the Social Democratic Party, PSD, for the position, was supported 208 lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies while 93 voted against.

"Anti-Semitic discourses have not disappeared from Romanian political life in the last 30 years," said Oliver Jens Schmitt, professor of Southeast European history at the University of Vienna.

"AUR is trying to address as large a group of protesting voters as possible," he said, and politics is getting in the way of any substantive response.

Romania's parliament swore in a government led by new Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca on Thursday, with 318 votes out of 466.

The new majority comprises the National Liberal Party, PNL, the Social Democratic Party, PSD, and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, UDMR.

President Klaus Iohannis nominated the former defence minister and reserve general Nicolae Ciuca as Romania's next Prime Minister of Romania on Monday after talks with most parties in parliament.

Romanian political parties spent about 111.7 million lei [about 22.56 million euros] from January to September this year on "mass media and propaganda", according to official data provided by the Romanian Permanent Electoral Authority, AEP.

The government of Prime Minister Florin Citu of the National Liberal Party, PNL was toppled on Tuesday after a large majority of MPs backed a no-confidence motion filed last week by the main opposition Social Democratic Party, PSD.

The former president of the Social Democratic Party, PSD, Liviu Dragnea, who was released on parole in June, said he will support a new party, the Alliance for the Fatherland, which preaches nationalist values and calls for Romania to leave the European Union.

This is for the first time in the past 31 years that a motion of censure is being denied, USR PLUS (Save Romania Union - Freedom, Unity, Solidarity Party) spokesman Ionut Mosteanu said on Monday, at the end of the meeting of the joint Standing Bureaus of the two Chambers. "The PSD (Social Democratic Party) and PNL (National Liberal Party) have boycotted this meeting.

The President of the Chamber of Deputies, Ludovic Orban, on Wednesday stated that the way in which the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections is calculated was "transparent," all data are known and cannot be changed in any way, adding that "the Minister of Health must take care of the health of the citizens." He was asked about the statement made by the Minister of Health, Vlad Voiculescu, accordin