Instabilities and Conflicts of Jurisdiction: Parliament, President, and Government in Romania

This chapter analyzes the functioning of the Romanian system of government. Vaguely defined areas of competence give the parliament, the government, and the president considerable room for maneuver. This has been actively used, which has significantly influenced the relationship between them. Important features of the system of government are a weak bicameralism with unstable majorities due to frequent party changes, unstable governments that act as “secondary legislators,” and a president who often acts politically rather than as a pouvoir neutre. The analysis shows how power struggles have emerged among political actors. The frequent cohabitation between the president and the government or parliamentary majority has often ended in political crises and constitutional disputes. Furthermore, political actors behave opportunistically toward the Constitution—its provisions are instrumentalized and often interpreted unilaterally or abusively in order to satisfy partisan interests or to achieve short-term objectives. This has led to several political crises, the most serious of which was triggered in December 2024 following the annulment of the presidential elections.