June 15 (SeeNews) - Romania's ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea said on Thursday that his party has agreed with its coalition partner ALDE to file a censure motion against the government.
Also, PSD's executive committee has decided to exclude prime minister Sorin Grindeanu from PSD following his refusal to resign, Dragnea said.
"PSD decided to file a motion of censure against the government on Monday. We expect it to be debated and voted on Wednesday," Dragnea said during a conference broadcast by Digi 24 station.
Dragnea said that PSD has yet to formulate the censure motion reasoning.
In order to pass, the censure motion needs to be backed by 233 MPs.
Following December 11 regular general elections, PSD won 221 of a total of 463 seats in the two houses of parliament in the election. After the vote, PSD joined forces with Liberal-Democrat Alliance (ALDE) to secure a comfortable majority of 250 seats.
ALDE leader Calin Popescu Tariceanu confirmed during a televised statement that the party will support the censure motion.
However, there are signs that not everybody in PSD will support the motion, as various PSD members, including ex-prime minister Victor Ponta have declared publicly that they support Grindeanu.
On Thursday, local media reported that Ponta could be named by Grindeanu as the chief of government's general secretariat SGG.
Earlier on Thursday, presidency spokeswoman Madalina Dobrovolschi that president Klaus Iohannis will appoint a new prime minister only after the incumbent one resigns or loses a no-confidence vote in parliament. At the same time, the head of state called on the parties in the government coalition to resolve the crisis.
Prime minister Grindeanu refused to step down on Wednesday night after PSD's executive committee withdrew support for his six-month old coalition cabinet citing poor performance. ALDE also withdrew support for Grindeanu on Wednesday.
Under Romania's constitution, the president must name a prime minister from the political party which has won majority of seats in parliament in elections. Both the prime minister and his cabinet must be approved by the MPs in a vote of confidence. The MPs can reject a proposed government line-up up to three times before the president decides to dissolve parliament and call new elections.
Amid the unfolding political crisis, the Romanian leu on Thursday weakened the most against the euro since August 2012. Romania's central bank BNR set its reference exchange rate at 4.5872 lei per euro on Thursday, 0.45% weaker compared to 4.5667 lei per euro on Wednesday. This is the lowest exchange rate for the Romanian currency since August 1, 2012, when it stood at 4.63 lei per euro.
(1 euro=4.5872 lei)