BUCHAREST, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Romania's Parliament on Monday rejected a no-confidence motion filed by the opposition against Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan's government, clearing the way for a major fiscal reform package aimed at reducing the country's growing budget deficit.
The motion received 134 votes in favor and four against, well below the 233 votes required for it to pass in the joint sitting of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.
"Since the motion of censure has been rejected, the law on fiscal-budgetary measures is considered adopted," said Sorin Grindeanu, president of the Chamber of Deputies.
The motion was backed by 131 member of Parliament (MPs) from the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), Party of Young People (POT), S.O.S. Romania, and unaffiliated members.
Opposition parties launched the motion after the Bolojan Cabinet used a confidence procedure to push through the first set of fiscal measures without a full parliamentary debate. The package includes a VAT increase and spending cuts to curb the country's deficit, which exceeded European Union limits last year. ■