September 2 (SeeNews) - The centre-right bloc formed by Save Romania Union (USR) and PLUS parties, the junior partner in the governing coalition, said on Thursday that it is withdrawing its support for prime minister Florin Citu after he dismissed justice minister Stelian Ion.
"We call on the coalition to take note of the lack of a majority to support Citu's cabinet and we call for the urgent start of negotiations on the appointment of a new prime minister to form a new government," the bloc said in a press release.
If the discussions within the coalition fail, USR PLUS will support a motion of censure against the Citu government, the bloc added.
The National Liberal Party (PNL) and USR PLUS, which form the governing coalition, hold 134 and 80 seats, respectively, in the 465-seat parliament.
On Wednesday, Citu dismissed Ion, the justice minister nominated by USR PLUS, after he refused to back an emergency decree on a 50 billion lei ($12 billion/10 billion euro) development financing scheme for rural areas.
"I will not accept to have within the Romanian government ministers who oppose Romania's modernisation. Blocking the government's work just because you do not agree to the communities'development is a violation of the mandate given by Parliament through the governance programme," Citu said in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening.
For his part, Ion said in a Facebook post that his removal was related to the ongoing procedure of appointment of high-ranking prosecutors, which the justice ministry is planning to change.
Ion is the third minister Citu dismisses after transport minister Alexandru Nazare and health minister Vlad Voiculescu.
Citu's decision comes a few weeks before an internal election within the PNL, when he will challenge the current party leader Ludovic Orban.
In June, a censure motion against Romania's coalition cabinet over the poor quality of projects proposed under the country's National Recovery and Resilience Plan failed. The censure motion was backed by a total of 201 MPs from the left-wing Social Democrat Party and the right-wing nationalist party Alliance for the Unity of Romanians. In order to pass, the motion needed the support of 234 MPs.
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