Nicoleta Pauliuc and Alina Gorghiu, replaced in Parliament’s delegation to NATO

Ana Maria Eftene

10 November 2026, 12:47

Politics

Parlamentul României în ședință / Foto: shutterstock.com

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The joint plenary session of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies decided on Tuesday to replace liberals Nicoleta Pauliuc and Alina Gorghiu from the Permanent Delegation of the Parliament of Romania to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. The two female parliamentarians will be replaced by Iulian Silviu Coșa and Robert Sighiartău, at the proposal of the PNL parliamentary groups.

Changes were also approved in the case of other parliamentary delegations. PSD Senator Ionel Floroiu replaces Daniel Zamfir in the delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, after the latter was appointed Minister of the Economy. USR Deputy Ionuț Moșteanu was designated a full member of the same delegation.

Victor Ponta was also designated a member of the Delegation of the Parliament of Romania to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. He replaces Mădălin-Laurențiu Făget, at the proposal of the United for Romania parliamentary group.

The decision concerning Pauliuc and Gorghiu comes after the two liberal women publicly criticized PNL President Ilie Bolojan. They refused to withdraw their legal actions filed against decisions adopted at the party's Extraordinary Congress on June 21. Bolojan asked liberals who challenge the party's decisions to abandon their actions, otherwise risking exclusion from the parliamentary groups.

Context: the conflict within the PNL escalated through ultimatums related to lawsuits and public tensions over the party’s strategy

Before the decisions in Parliament, the PNL leadership was publicly reproached for escalating the internal dispute: leader Ilie Bolojan issued an ultimatum to the liberals who were challenging the party’s decisions in court, demanding that they withdraw their legal actions, under threat of exclusion from the parliamentary groups. Nicoleta Pauliuc rejected the request, saying that the right of access to justice is guaranteed and that loyalty to the party does not entail giving up the possibility of challenging decisions, while Alina Gorghiu described the measure as blackmail and announced that she would not withdraw her court actions, also invoking Article 21 of the Constitution.

At the same time, the PNL was going through a government and political reorganization crisis: Alina Gorghiu criticized the party leadership for supporting an agreement with Prime Minister Luca Niculescu, presented as support for stability without including the liberals in government, and after the PNL’s decision to enter opposition, two state advisers, Luciana Antoci and Cristina Pocora, resigned from the Prime Minister’s Chancellery.