President Traian Basescu was suspended by the Parliament with a crushing majority of votes - 322 in favour of suspension and 108 against. The debates in Parliament and the announcement of the ballot results caused turmoil on the financial markets, in particular as the President had announced he would resign "within five minutes" after the Parliament voted to suspend him.
President Traian Basescu had not announced his resignation by the time this story was ready for print, although two days before he had said he would resign five minutes after suspension.
The suspension proposal that came from PSD (Social Democrat Party) needed 235 votes to pass. The ballot results show many of the PNL (National Liberal Party) and UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) MPs voted in favour of PSD's action yesterday. Basescu did not participate in the Parliamentary session and did not reply to the accusations the opposition levelled against him, although he was invited to attend.
On Wednesday night, he warned the MPs not to vote for the suspension, as it would plunge Romania into a crisis, would affect the country's rating and scare investors away. However, he made no comments regarding his resignation during his speech on Wednesday.
The Romanian economy has been growing steadily over the last three years primarily because of investments and consumption, which have received a boost from the flat tax. Decisions regarding taxation levels, which are probably the worst fears investors have in case of a change in political power, are not for the President to make, who has very little say in economic matters.
The exchange rate was quick to rise from 3.3350 to 3.3420 RON/EUR. At this level, however, investors were encouraged to sell their foreign currency, which foreign investors did, as well, so that the euro returned to 3.3360 RON until the market c
