Bowing to pressure, the government scrapped the ordinance on Sunday as some 500,000 people protested across the country. The Social Democrats and their allies control nearly two thirds of the seats in parliament after winning a December election. Ioana Bran, the parliamentary secretary, said on Wednesday that 161 MPs voted in support of the motion, short of the 232 votes needed for it to pass. The government, however, has been badly shaken by the protests, some of the largest in Romania since the 1989 fall of communism, and opposition parties vowed after Wednesday's vote to continue their close scrutiny of the ruling party's actions. Party sources have told Reuters he may resign on Wednesday and Grindeanu said on Wednesday a decision on Iordache would be announced on Thursday. Opposition deputy Catalin Predoiu said of the no-confidence motion: “This is a warning signal that we managed to gather the votes of the whole opposition and it also shows that whenever the new government derails we will gather and sanction it.”

Grindeanu said his government would not consider any further initiatives similar to the rescinded decree “that could awake powerful emotions in society without proper and wide debate”.
The government of Prime Minister of Romania Sorin Grindeanu survives a no-confidence motion over proposed decriminalisation of certain corruption offences, with 161 MPs voting in favor of the motion, short of the 232 votes needed for it to pass.