Covid-19 gives Romania a new government
Ludovic Orban's liberal PNL government in Romania, which was overthrown in early February, was re-elected on Friday. Faced with the spread of Covid-19, all the opposition parties gave it their backing. Many PNL MPs are in quarantine and had to stay away from the vote. Romania's media are delighted to see the politicians displaying such a sense of responsibility.
An historic moment
Evenimentul Zilei welcomes the PSD's decision to elect a new government even if that government is formed by its opponents:
“On Friday and Saturday we experienced a unique moment in the history of Romania, if not of the world. An opposition party runs the risk of violating all procedural rules [in putting together a hasty government], only so that its biggest political opponent, which is now in power, can form a government. And not only that. Above all PNL members of parliament were absent from the vote. The very parliamentarians whose party wanted to form the government. And what is the PSD doing in view of these circumstances? Precisely what you wouldn't expect an opposition party to do: it is mobilising its own MPs to get the PNL government back into power.”
Suddenly reason has triumphed
Writing on the blog portal Adevărul, mathematics professor Stefan Vlaston is also pleasantly surprised:
“The last 24 hours showed us a completely different political class. One that understands the danger in which we find ourselves and which renounces the power games we've become so used to witnessing. And it's not because otherwise part of the electorate would have punished them - although policians did recognise the danger of that happening. ... There's no time now for government experiments or new ministers who don't even know where the door to their office is. The political class has shown maturity - if only out of fear of the coronavirus.”