PNL gives rebel liberals 10 days to drop court challenges or leave parliamentary groups

The ultimatum

On 8 November, the National Political Bureau (BPN) of the National Liberal Party (PNL) gave an ultimatum to party members who had taken their internal dispute to court. Liberal sources told G4Media that the rebels must either withdraw their lawsuits against the party or leave it, and that the ten-day deadline started that day.

The group challenging the party includes Monica Anisie, Andrei Baciu, Lucian Bode, Sorin Cîmpeanu, Alina Gorghiu, Nicoleta Pauliuc, Ionuț Stroe, Adrian Veștea and Hubert Thuma. They filed suits against decisions taken at the extraordinary congress of 21 June. Several of them had supported a government led by Adrian Veștea, which was proposed as prime minister by Nicușor Dan and fell in a parliamentary vote. The ten-day period runs out on 18 November 2026.

Background to the dispute

On 21 June the party announced formalities for the statutory exclusion of Rareș Bogdan and other critics of party leader Ilie Bolojan, including Lucian Bode, Adrian Veștea, Hubert Thuma and Alina Gorghiu. The party accused them of repeatedly breaching their obligation to defend the PNL's political options and decisions by taking part in actions against the party's interests. The Bucharest Tribunal issued a first-instance ruling in July. In August, Bolojan said that MPs who voted against decisions adopted by the party effectively excluded themselves, leaving two outcomes: decency or exclusion. He also pointed to how quickly courts had annulled decisions of the previous congress, and how slowly the judicial process moved afterwards.

Bolojan's position

Speaking after a meeting with the PNL parliamentary groups on 9 November, Bolojan said the leadership had decided that group decisions must be respected in the votes of members of those groups, both in the Chamber and in the Senate. Members may vote as they wish, he said, but not as members of the group. He argued the principle applies to every political party, not only the PNL, and that it goes to the substance of what a party is.

“Those who challenge this principled right to make recommendations on how to vote have two options: withdraw these lawsuits, or they no longer belong to these groups.”

Bolojan described the matter as one of clarity, decency and normality, adding that members who disagree with a group's vote can do politics elsewhere.

Sighiartău's announcements

Robert Sighiartău, a PNL deputy, listed the decisions taken at the Sunday meeting in a Facebook post on 9 November. They include creating specialist committees to bring expertise to public policy and a negotiating mandate to begin a merger by absorption with Forța Dreptei, led by Ludovic Orban. The BPN also approved, unanimously, starting procedures to recover amounts linked to unpaid invoices or to contracts signed without respecting statutory provisions. Sighiartău tied these steps to rebuilding the party and a credible centre-right alternative.

“Those who violated the party's decisions and went to court to block the PNL's activity have ten days to withdraw their challenges and clarify their political path.”

Timeline

What comes next

Bolojan has said the PNL will organise a congress depending on court rulings. Whether the rebels withdraw their suits before the deadline on 18 November 2026, or whether the party moves to exclude them, was still undecided as of 9 November.