The Romanian parliament ousted center-right Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan by passing a vote of no confidence in his government on Tuesday.

“This censure motion is false, cynical and artificial,” Bolojan lamented during the tense debate held prior to the vote. “Any country, in a multitude of crises, would try to consolidate governments, not change them.”

The center-left Social Democratic Party (PSD) played a decisive role in the successful no-confidence vote. Fed up with Bucharest’s severe austerity policies, last month the group pulled out of the government led by Bolojan’s National Liberal Party and announced they would work with the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians to oust the prime minister.

The move came as a surprise to the Socialists & Democrats group in the European Parliament, to which the PSD belongs. After spending years scolding the center-right European People’s Party for forging similar alliances with the far right, the developments in Romania put the EU’s premier center-left group in an awkward spot.

Bolojan and his center-right National Liberal Party have been in power since 2025, following former Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu’s resignation. His ouster comes less than a year after Romania held a divisive presidential election in which the moderate mayor of Bucharest, Nicușor Dan, defeated the Alliance for the Union of Romanians’ leader, George Simion.

Simion is widely considered to be the mastermind behind Bolojan’s fall. His far-right party is surging in the polls, and its odds are likely to improve even further in a period of extended instability that will threaten the country’s already precarious economic outlook. Romania must complete key reforms by August to unlock around €11 billion in EU funding, and if it doesn’t get its public finances in order, it may also face a credit rating downgrade. 

The far-right leader called for snap elections during Tuesday’s debate in parliament. “We assume the future of this country, a future government and restore the hope of the Romanians,” he said. “Romania’s destiny must be decided by the votes of the Romanians.”

But snap elections before the end of the current parliamentary term in 2028 are considered unlikely. Instead, President Dan is now expected to begin consultations with party leaders to form a new coalition government under a new prime minister. One possibility is that Bolojan’s liberals and the socialists will form a new partnership under an independent technocrat.

Another possibility is that Bolojan will be tapped to lead a minority government, leaving the PSD in the opposition alongside Simion’s far-right lawmakers.

Bolojan is the seventh prime minister to be toppled by a no-confidence vote since the restoration of democratic rule following the 1989 Romanian Revolution.

Ahead of the no-confidence vote, Dan sought to calm both domestic voters and European allies. “I want to assure Romanians that, regardless of what happens one way or another, Romania will continue to maintain its Western direction,” he said during a press conference on Monday. “There may be one or two weeks of uncertainty, but it should not worry us, because there is commitment to the important objectives.”

© 2026 Politico