National Coalition for Romania

After the political crisis in autumn 2021, PNL, PSD, and the UDMR/RMDSZ reached an agreement to rule the country together through a solid grand coalition for the next 7 years. Thus, it has been agreed that the prime minister and several other important ministries should be changed every 1 year and a half. Consequently, the first prime minister to be appointed was national liberal Nicolae Ciucă. His cabinet was sworn in on 25 November.[5]

On 23 November 2021, Marcel Ciolacu (PSD) was elected president of the Chamber of Deputies.[6] Also the same day, Anca Dragu (USR) was dismissed as Senate chairman, being replaced by the former Prime Minister Florin Cîțu (PNL).[7] In early 2022, the coalition's activity was praised by President Iohannis, stating that "the Romanian political class has shown democratic maturity".[8]

The coalition, up until the swearing in of Ciucă's cabinet, was initially referred to as the Coalition for Resilience, Development and Prosperity (Romanian: Coaliția pentru Reziliență, Dezvoltare și Prosperitate, CRDP).[9]

On June 12, 2023, according to the protocol of the CNR, Nicolae Ciucă resigned.[10] The next day, president Klaus Iohannis designated Marcel Ciolacu to be the next prime-minister.[11] Ciucă became the President of the Romanian Senate on June 13, 2023.[12] UDMR also withdrew from the coalition, after the National Liberals decided to take the Minister of Development, Public Works and Administration, which was held by UDMR in the Ciucă Cabinet.[13][14] On June 15, 2023, the Parliament of Romania voted the Ciolacu Cabinet. Iohannis praised the PSD-PNL coalition again, saying that this new model implemented in Romanian politics - the government rotation - „has worked very well so far”. He also declared that „the fact that today we are here to formalize the rotation of the prime ministers shows a new level of seriousness of the coalition”.[15]

During Ciucă's premiership, the freedom of the press in Romania declined, according to World Press Freedom Index (from 75.09 in 2021[16] to 69.04 in 2023[17]).

Although they have opposing ideologies, both PSD and PNL claim to have formed a reformist alliance.[18] The parties in the coalition have been said to take an overall statist[19] and conservative approach,[20][21] the main common idea of the two being economic patriotism.[22][23][24]

While former PSD and PNL rivals claim to have made the alliance in the interest of the people,[25] there was heavy criticism of both parties because they promised not to form an alliance with each other.[26][27][28] President Klaus Iohannis, who is rumored to be the coalition's architect,[4] was sharply criticized, because between 2018 and 2020 he had repeatedly criticized the PSD,[29] then brought the PSD back to government.[30][31] At one point, PNL president Florin Cîțu claimed that "Our [PNL's] former [coalition] partners [the USR] shook hands with the PSD, [and] they didn't want to shake hands with us [the PNL] anymore".[32]

Critics also called the coalition the Second monstrous coalition,[33][34][35] or USL 2.0,[36][37] as well as kleptocratic, authoritarian, illiberal[38][39] and corrupt.[40][41][42] Ludovic Orban, former PNL president and Prime Minister, has seen the coalition as a "danger for Romanian democracy".[43]

Under Ciucă's premiership, Romania experienced democratic backsliding,[44] with The Economist ranking it last in the European Union in the world terms of democracy,[45] even behind Viktor Orbán's Hungary.[46]

It is still unknown whether or not the coalition would also participate together in the upcoming elections.

• Social Liberal Union (USL): a similar political alliance active between 2011 and 2014
• Force of the Right (FD): the most recent major PNL splinter founded by former PNL president and former Prime Minister Ludovic Orban in late 2021