Over 20,000 Romanians To Protest On Day Parliament Votes On No-Confidence Motion

They also said protesters will form a human chain around the building from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. when lawmakers enter the Parliament building.

Representatives of the five union confederations on Thursday agreed on a series of measures regarding protest rallies set for June 15 at the Parliament headquarters. They stressed that planned protests aim to get lawmakers to overthrow the democrat liberal Government by voting in favor of the opposition's no-confidence motion, and do away with salary and pension cuts.

They also sent a letter Thursday to the country's new leftist party UNPR, urging its members to convene with unionists on Friday or Monday, which represents unionists' last attempt, before the vote on the no-confidence motion, to get politicians to realize that "if they vote against the motion, they actually vote against the Romanian people.

Nearly 1,000 unionists protested outside Parliament headquarters Monday, the day the Government sought lawmakers' vote for the two laws that make up its austerity plan.

According to union representatives, rallies outside the Parliament are set to continue this week, with some 1,500-2,000 protesters in attendance each day. Protests will be held countrywide Thursday through Saturday, as unionists intend to picket local lawmakers' offices and party headquarters.

The Romanian Government has devised an austerity plan made up of two laws, which stipulate a 25% cut of public sector wages and a 15% pension cut.

Romania's Constitution states that the Government is dismissed if the majority of lawmakers vote in favor of a no-confidence motion. The plenary assembly of Parliament can withdraw a confidence vote previously granted to the Government through approving a no-confidence motion.

Passing the no-confidence motion would require the favorable vote of 236 out of 471 lawmakers. Romania's ruling liberal democrats have 178 senators and deputies, while fellow coalition members, the minority Hungarians, have 31 lawmaker seats. Opposition social democrats, conservatives and liberals hold a total of 212 seats in Parliament.

Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc on Monday asked lawmakers' confidence vote for the country's austerity plan and warned that Romania might go into payment default unless it cuts budget spending. The two austerity laws, which cut public sector wages, pensions and social welfare benefits, should help the recession-hit country bring its economy on track and convince the International Monetary Fund, which is leading a EUR20 billion rescue package agreed last year, to disburse further installments of the loan.

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