Romania’s political crisis intensifies as Parliament rejects pro-EU PM

Siegfried Muresan’s loss of the confidence motion increases the prospect for snap elections.Published On 30 Sep 202630 Sep 2026Romania’s pro-European Prime Minister-designate Siegfried Muresan has failed to win a parliamentary vote of confidence, prolonging a political crisis seen as a boost for the rising far right.Muresan, a liberal European Parliament member who was the latest of three designated prime ministers, secured only 182 votes out of the 233 required to secure the confidence motion on Wednesday, according to the official count.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Why the world should care about the far right’s rise in Germanylist 2 of 3Europe’s centrists are finally paying the price of their extremismlist 3 of 3Switzerland’s neutrality vote is asking the wrong questionend of listThe far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) largely boycotted the vote.The 45-year-old had proposed what he described as a “reform-oriented” governing programme under his centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL), which teamed up with the Save Romania Union party, or USR, and the small ethnic Hungarian UDMR party.President Nicusor Dan said he would nominate a new prime minis...