2012–2015 unrest in Romania

The 2012–2015 unrest in Romania refers to a prolonged period of civil unrest and political scandals in Romania, which took magnitude after the second half of the 2000s. The wave of civil demonstrations started in January 2012, once with the introduction of a new health reform legislation. The protests were fueled by the austerity measures applied in May 2010, but also by the unpopularity of Băsescu-backed Boc government. The demonstrations were characterized by widespread rioting and acts of vandalism. The political situation precipitated, so Prime Minister Emil Boc decided to step down on 6 February 2012.

In the first six months of the year, three governments have been changed. The summer of 2012 was marked by a large-scale political crisis, fed by accusations of plagiarism to PSD-backed Prime Minister Victor Ponta and culminating with the suspension of President Traian Băsescu. Although the presidential impeachment referendum showed that over 80% of the voters wanted his dismissal, the referendum was invalidated by the Constitutional Court due to presence below 50% at polls. During this period, Romania was warned by Western powers about the state of democracy, inasmuch as the dismissal of the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies was made in a shady manner, and prominent figures of PSD, including Vice-President Liviu Dragnea, were accused of vote rigging in the referendum.

After sweeping victory in legislative election on 9 December 2012, Victor Ponta – supported by the Social Liberal Union – was named Prime Minister of Romania. His mandate was marked by corruption scandals and street protests. The demonstrations had various causes, among them the tax hikes, the exploitation of shale gas through hydraulic fracturing and the Roșia Montană Project. Hundreds of thousands of people, including doctors, teachers, students and laborers, took to the street to shout their dissatisfaction regarding his policies. Employees in transport and health system triggered several strikes in this period. Although mainly peaceful, the protests degenerated in some cases in clashes between demonstrators and law enforcers. Ponta Government was accused by national and international organizations of excessive use of force in the Revolt of Pungești. Ethnic Hungarians started a series of protests for the autonomy of Szeklerland, while the unionist movements (Action 2012) demanded the unification of Moldova and Romania, both in Romania and over the Prut.

In the winter of 2014, the ruling alliance collapsed, after internal tensions between PSD and PNL. The National Liberal Party left the alliance and merged with the Democratic Liberal Party to form the largest right-wing party in Romania in the post-revolutionary period. In the summer of the same year, Victor Ponta from PSD and Klaus Iohannis from PNL launched their candidatures for the presidential election. To everyone's surprise, ethnic German Klaus Iohannis won the election. Ponta's failure was mainly due to irregularities concerning the voting process in diaspora and numerous corruption scandals involving figures from the party he leads. During the electoral campaign, people protested against Victor Ponta and members of his government, inasmuch as thousands of Romanian citizens in diaspora were prevented from exercising their right to vote due to bad organization of the election process.