and many other major cities of the country in huge numbers for more than 500 consecutive days in order to oppose the modification of these law packages, prompt early elections, as well as a referendum on the topic of justice. 2020–present The 2020 Romanian local elections which were held on 27 September were won by the PNL. Nonetheless, on 6 December, the PNL finished second in the 2020 Romanian legislative election. The election was won by the oppositional Social Democrats (PSD) who came in first. Shortly after the official results came out, Orban resigned from his position as PM and was replaced by Nicolae Ciucă as acting/ad interim PM. In the meantime, the national liberals proceeded to negotiate the formation of a coalition government alongside USR PLUS and UDMR for a reportedly stable center-right governance for the next four years in Romania. The newly designated PM was therefore Florin Cîțu, a member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), who took office on 23 December 2020, after forming a three-party, center-right coalition consisting of the PNL, the USR PLUS, and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR/RMDSZ). Subsequently, in early September 2021, USR PLUS decided to exit the Cîțu Cabinet and so the three centre-right party alliance was officially disbanded. Furthermore, PNL, Iohannis, and Cîțu triggered the major 2021 Romanian political crisis which lasted for nearly three months and consequently plunged the country into tremendous social and economic turmoil, until Nicolae Ciucă was invested PM along with the CNR cabinet in late November 2021. Even after Ciucă's investment, the catastrophic and heavily corrupted PNL-PSD-UDMR/RMDSZ governance has been keeping the country in tremendous social and economic turmoil, lacking solutions and not being able to display a vision for a proper governing on both a short and medium-term basis. Foreign relations On 1 January 2007, Romania became a member of the European Union (EU) in the fifth wave of EU enlargement. During the 2000s, Romania implemented a number of reforms to prepare for EU accession, including the consolidation of its democratic systems, the institution of the rule of law, the acknowledgement of respect for human rights, the commitment to personal freedom of expression, and the implementation of a functioning free-market economy. Romania joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on March 29, 2004, following the decision taken at the Prague Summit, in November 2002. Romania was a partner to the allied forces