section_path: Presidency (2014–2025)
section_name: Presidency (2014–2025)
paragraph_text: Presidency (2014–2025)
  
  Iohannis took office on 21 December 2014, when Traian Băsescu 's term ended. His presidential campaign focused on fighting corruption and on improving the justice system. Iohannis is also a supporter of a strongly pro-Western foreign policy. Regarding the unification of the Republic of Moldova with Romania, much discussed in the electoral campaign, Iohannis stated that "is something that only Bucharest can offer and only Chișinău can accept", and this "special relationship must be cultivated and enhanced especially by us ". Upon taking office, Iohannis suspended his membership within the National Liberal Party (PNL); the Romanian constitution does not allow the president to be a formal member of a political party during his tenure.
  
  A heavily disputed draft law proposed by Nicolae Păun, leader of the Party of the Roma, regarding the amnesty of some misdemeanors and the pardoning of certain penalties was rejected by the Chamber of Deputies at the initiative of Iohannis and the party he led, after PNL asked the Judiciary Committee 17 times to reject the draft law.
  
  The collaboration with socialist Prime Minister Victor Ponta was praised by both sides at the start of the mandate, but deteriorated thereafter once with foreign visits of the Head of the Executive, without informing the President, but especially with the criminal prosecution of Victor Ponta for 22 alleged corruption charges, prompting Iohannis to demand his resignation from the head of the Government. Relations with Parliament went similarly. Iohannis criticised the Parliament for defending MPs by rejecting the requests of the National Anticorruption Directorate for lifting their immunity, as in the case of PSD senator Dan Șova or Prime Minister Victor Ponta. Regarding the judicial system, Iohannis pleads for a sustained fight against corruption. Likewise, Iohannis expressed dissatisfaction with attempted amendments to the Penal Code. In the context of foreign policy, Iohannis and Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland, created Bucharest Nine during a meeting between both in Bucharest on 4 November 2015. The Russian annexation of Ukrainian Crimea and the country's intervention in the east of Ukraine are the main reason for the creation of the organisation. It has nine members, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
  
  As President, Iohannis made it a habit to hold consultations with parliamentary parties. The first round of consultations, on 12 January 2015, sought a political agreement among all parties that would ensure, by 2017, a minimum threshold of 2% of GDP for the Ministry of Defence. The second round of consultations focused on the legislative priorities of the parliamentary session: voting in diaspora, financing electoral campaigns and parties, and lifting parliamentary immunity. Because Parliament had not implemented the commitments made on 28 January, Iohannis organised another series of consultations on the state of electoral laws and on the rejection of Justice requests for approval of arresting or prosecuting of MPs. Other meetings between the president and parties focused on the Big Brother law package and the national defence strategy.
  
  In February 2016, the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) sent a notice of evacuation of the headquarters of two TV stations owned by Dan Voiculescu, sentenced in August 2014 to 10 years imprisonment in a corruption case with 60 million euros worth of prejudice. In this context, Iohannis stated that ANAF approach in Antena TV Group case is "hasty", "inappropriate" and that "freedom of expression in media can not be suppressed for trivial administrative reasons". His position was met with a wave of criticism from supporters and public figures. On the same note, Iohannis stated that union with Moldova is "a less serious approach" in the context of the Transnistria conflict, of differences between Romania and Moldova regarding economic stability and fighting corruption, and can be discussed when things are stable in both countries. The statement sparked indignation among unionists who accused him of demagogy, considering that during the electoral campaign of 2014 he expressed a favourable position on the issue. In March 2018, at the 100th anniversary of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania, he was absent from a plenary vote regarding the issue.
  
  President Iohannis is considered the person primarily responsible for the 2021 Romanian political crisis, with 35% of respondents in a November 2021 CURS opinion poll calling him the main culprit for the crisis. Critics blame him for excluding the USR from the government during late 2021 and thereby allowing the PSD back to power, as happened on 25 November 2021, when the National Coalition for Romania was founded and the Ciucă Cabinet was sworn in. Two months later, Iohannis praised the new coalition, stating that "the Romanian political class has shown democratic maturity". Iohannis was faulted because he had previously criticised the PSD during the 2017–2019 PSD-ALDE coalition. At the 2020 legislative elections, he called the electorate to vote, promising to get rid of the PSD. Some public figures in Romania, who had previously expressed support for Iohannis, complained of his double standard and lack of proper governance. These critics include Vladimir Tismăneanu, Tudor Chirilă, Radu Paraschivescu, Mircea Cărtărescu, Andrei Oișteanu, Ada Solomon, Marius Manole, Cristian Tudor Popescu, and Gabriel Liiceanu. The coalition's rule has been described as being authoritarian, illiberal, kleptocratic and corrupt.
  
  Despite the fact that, officially, the President of Romania is not affiliated with any political party, Iohannis was regarded as the de facto leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL).
  
  On 12 June 2023, according to the protocol of the CNR, Nicolae Ciucă resigned. The next day, President Iohannis designated Marcel Ciolacu to be the next prime-minister. Ciucă became the President of the Romanian Senate on 13 June 2023. UDMR also withdrew from the coalition, after the National Liberals decided to take the Minister of Development, Public Works and Administration, which was held by UDMR in the Ciucă Cabinet. On 15 June 2023, the Parliament of Romania voted through the Ciolacu Cabinet. Iohannis praised the PSD-PNL coalition again, saying that this new model implemented in Romanian politics, the government rotation, "has worked very well so far". He also declared that "the fact that today we are here to formalise the rotation of the prime ministers shows a new level of seriousness of the coalition". During the late part of Iohannis's presidency, especially during Ciucă's premiership, the freedom of the press in Romania declined, according to World Press Freedom Index (from 75.09 in 2021 to 69.04 in 2023). Under Ciucă's premiership, Romania experienced democratic backsliding, with The Economist ranking it last in the European Union in terms of democracy, even behind Viktor Orbán's Hungary. The Economist ' s Democracy Index also consistently placed Romania behind the African country of Botswana, which Iohannis had sarcastically lamented in a 2014 presidential campaign interview (at the time, Romania was 60th to Botswana's 20th) and which prompted him to stress the need to "consolidate democracy".
  
  On 12 March 2024, Iohannis announced his candidacy for the post of Secretary-General of NATO, promising a "renewal of perspective" for the alliance and citing Romania's "deep understanding" of the situation created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was expected to compete against outgoing Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte. Iohannis withdrew his candidacy on 20 June 2024. Following the annulment of the 2024 Romanian presidential election in December, Iohannis was allowed to stay on as president by the Constitutional Court until his successor could be elected. However, on 10 February 2025, Iohannis announced his resignation as President of Romania in order to "not create a divided Romania". This followed a motion filed by opposition MPs calling for Iohannis's suspension, with his resignation becoming effective on 12 February 2025. He was succeeded by Senate president Ilie Bolojan, who served as acting president until the 2025 Romanian presidential election.