Τετάρτη 27 Οκτωβρίου 2010

Romanian Govt Faces Protests and No Confidence Vote


26 Oct 2010 / 14:24

Romanian workers are preparing major demonstrations on Wednesday scheduled to coincide with a no-confidence vote against the government.
Marian Chiriac
In the wake of recent cuts to the public sector, Oana Badescu, a 43-year-old teacher from Bucharest, plans to join an expected 80,000 other protesters at a demonstration on Wednesday against the country's government.

Facing government austerity measures that have already cut funding for education, Badescu and thousands of other teachers in Romania see street protests as the only way to voice their demands.

Romanian trade unions scheduled the protest to conincide with a vote of no-confidence in the government. The motion was tabled by the opposition against Prime Minister Emil Boc and his cabinet over the country's dire economic situation.

The leader of the largest opposition party, the Social Democrats, has said he will join protesters in the street on Wednesday.

“We will not leave the streets until we have found out the final outcome of the parliament’s vote [on the no-confidence measure],” Badescu told Balkan Insight.

”If the vote favours the government, we will continue our protest actions and probably will launch an all-out strike because the government must go,” Badescu added. The life-long teacher had a monthly salary of less than EUR 350 before the pay cuts went into effect.

Badescu explained that she is protesting against the government's decision in July to enforce a 25 per cent pay cut for public sector workers, including teachers. The move was part of an austerity package enacted as part of a EUR 20 billion IMF-led bailout.

While large-scale protests may rattle the government, it is likely to survive Wednesday's no-confidence vote.

On Monday the deputies from country's main ruling party and its ally the ethnic Hungarian party announced that they will abstain from the vote; abstentions effectively count as support for Prime Minister Emil Boc.

Opposition parties have 212 MPs in the two houses of parliament, out of a total of 371.
In order to be adopted, the motion must be approved by 236 lawmakers.

The opposition hopes that several independent lawmakers will also back the no-confidence motion.

“I don’t do politics but Romania has to come out of the current economic crisis. And the current government is unable to do this,” explained Badescu.

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