Since Romania joined the EU in January 2007, a series of political showdowns between government and opposition parties, especially the National Liberal Party (NLP) and the Democratic Party (DP), and between the prime minister, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, and the president, Traian Basescu, has created a mood of almost permanent political crisis. Mr Tariceanu restructured the government (in April 2007) to exclude the DP, and a minority government comprising the NLP and the Hungarian Democratic Union in Romania (HDUR) was supported in parliament by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) until it brought a no-confidence motion against the government in October in a bid to gain more political leverage. Although the confidence vote failed, the minority government will remain under pressure to make policy concessions to its political opponents to the detriment of the macroeconomy. Romania's political malaise is likely to persist, with negative consequences for EU-related reforms and economic policymaking in general. Lax fiscal and wages policies will fuel domestic demand, generate inflationary pressures and drive up the annual current-account deficit to the equivalent of more than 13% of GDP in 2007-09.