Renewing Romania's European Project ( ro, Reînnoim Proiectul European al României, REPER) is a
social liberal and
pro-European
Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Polit ...
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
in
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
. It is a splinter of the
Save Romania Union
The Save Romania Union ( ro, Uniunea Salvați România, USR) is a liberal political party active in Romania and Moldova, currently the third largest party in the Parliament with 43 deputies and 22 senators, and fifth at national level (following ...
(USR) currently led by
Dragoș Pîslaru and
Ramona Strugariu
Ramona Strugariu (born 6 August 1979) is a Romanian politician of REPER and previous member of USR PLUS/USR who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019.
Political career
In parliament, Strugariu has been serving on t ...
as
acting
Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode.
Acting involves a broad r ...
co-presidents, founded in May 2022, in opposition to USR's current leadership under
Cătălin Drulă
Cătălin Drulă (born 2 May 1981) is a Romanian politician who currently serves as the president of the Save Romania Union (USR) political party in Romania (officially since 10 July 2022 onwards and previously acting/ad interim for 5 months b ...
. The party is mostly associated with former
technocratic
Technocracy is a form of government in which the decision-maker or makers are selected based on their expertise in a given area of responsibility, particularly with regard to scientific or technical knowledge. This system explicitly contrasts wi ...
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
and former USR president
Dacian Cioloș
Dacian Julien Cioloș (; born 27 July 1969) is a Romanian agronomist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from November 2015 to January 2017. He previously served as Agriculture Minister under Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu between October 2007 and ...
, who became the party's leader.
History
Background
On 30 March 2018,
Dacian Cioloș
Dacian Julien Cioloș (; born 27 July 1969) is a Romanian agronomist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from November 2015 to January 2017. He previously served as Agriculture Minister under Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu between October 2007 and ...
announced his plans to establish a new political party, called the "Romania Together Movement". However, its official registration was never finalized due to various appeals and delays in the legal process. This was abandoned in favor of the
Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party
The Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity (, PLUS) was a pro-European, liberal political party established on 26 October 2018, whose president was Dacian Cioloș, former Prime Minister of Romania from 2015 until 2017, elected on 26 January 2019. ...
(PLUS), which was registered in December 2018 by three colleagues of Cioloș. On 26 January 2019, PLUS organized its first National Convention, where Cioloș was elected president of the party.
Soon after Cioloș took the party presidency, it was announced that PLUS will form an
electoral alliance
An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political party, political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand ...
with the
Save Romania Union
The Save Romania Union ( ro, Uniunea Salvați România, USR) is a liberal political party active in Romania and Moldova, currently the third largest party in the Parliament with 43 deputies and 22 senators, and fifth at national level (following ...
(USR), known as the
2020 USR-PLUS Alliance
USR PLUS was a Romanian progressive, liberal, and centrist political alliance active between 2019 and 2021. Established on 2 February 2019 solely as an electoral alliance between the political parties Save Romania Union (USR) and the Freedom, ...
, to participate together in the
2019 European Parliament election in Romania
European Parliament elections were held in Romania on 26 May 2019.
Background Social Democratic Party (PSD)
In April 2019, the Party of European Socialists (PES) announced on Wednesday that it would freeze relations with the Social Democra ...
, and subsequently in the
2019 presidential election and the 2020
local
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
* Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...
and
legislative election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
s as well.
On 15 August 2020, USR and PLUS organized a joint congress to decide whether to formally unite the two parties or not, with 84.65% of the participants voting in favor of a merger. The merger was approved by the Bucharest Court of Appeal on 16 April 2021.
In October 2021, after a joint leadership with
Dan Barna
Dan Barna (born 10 July 1975) is a Romanian politician and lawyer. He served as the president of the Save Romania Union (USR), and as co-president of USR-PLUS until 1 October 2021. He was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 2016.
Bio ...
,
Cioloș was elected the sole president of
the new party, which retained the "Save Romania Union" name. Four months later, in February 2022, Cioloș resigned as USR president after his presidential project was rejected by the party's National Bureau, with a vote of 14–11. He stated, however, that he would remain member of the party.
Formation
On 31 May 2022,
Dacian Cioloș
Dacian Julien Cioloș (; born 27 July 1969) is a Romanian agronomist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from November 2015 to January 2017. He previously served as Agriculture Minister under Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu between October 2007 and ...
, along with four other
MEPs, resigned from the
Save Romania Union
The Save Romania Union ( ro, Uniunea Salvați România, USR) is a liberal political party active in Romania and Moldova, currently the third largest party in the Parliament with 43 deputies and 22 senators, and fifth at national level (following ...
(USR), criticizing the leadership of the party: "We do not see in the USR leadership either the desire or the maturity to accept the mistakes of the past and to change a direction that leads the party to political irrelevance". Cioloș and his supporters then announced the formation of a new party, more specifically "Renewing Romania's European Project" (or "REPER" for short). This announcement was met with waves of irony stemming from prominent USR members, including
Bucharest Sector 1 mayor
Clotilde Armand
Clotilde Marie Brigitte Armand (born 28 June 1973) is a French-born Romanian politician and businesswoman. Since October 2020, she is Mayor of Bucharest's Sector 1.
Armand first ran for Mayor of Sector 1 in the 2016 Romanian local elections on ...
, former Justice Minister
Stelian Ion
Stelian-Cristian Ion (born 24 June 1977) is a Romanian politician who served as Minister of Justice in the Cîțu Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Florin Cîțu, from 23 December 2020 to 1 September 2021.
His sacking as Minister of Justice threa ...
, and Cosette Chichirău, as well as incumbent party president
Cătălin Drulă
Cătălin Drulă (born 2 May 1981) is a Romanian politician who currently serves as the president of the Save Romania Union (USR) political party in Romania (officially since 10 July 2022 onwards and previously acting/ad interim for 5 months b ...
or former party president
Dan Barna
Dan Barna (born 10 July 1975) is a Romanian politician and lawyer. He served as the president of the Save Romania Union (USR), and as co-president of USR-PLUS until 1 October 2021. He was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 2016.
Bio ...
.
Until the party's first congress, the party will be led by
Dragoș Pîslaru and
Ramona Strugariu
Ramona Strugariu (born 6 August 1979) is a Romanian politician of REPER and previous member of USR PLUS/USR who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019.
Political career
In parliament, Strugariu has been serving on t ...
as
acting
Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode.
Acting involves a broad r ...
/ad interim co-presidents.
Cioloș chose not to hold a position within the party leadership.
See also
*
Partidul Verde
*
Volt Romania
Volt Romania ( ro, Volt România) is a European federalist party in Romania. It has been active as an affiliate of Volt Europa since 2017 and was officially registered as a party in February 2021.
Policies
The party is committed to digitali ...
*
Renew Europe
Renew Europe (Renew) is a liberal, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group which exist ...
References
External links
Official website(in Romanian)
{{Political parties in Romania
Centrist parties in Romania
Liberal parties in Romania
Pro-European political parties in Romania
2022 establishments in Romania
Political parties established in 2022