This Tuesday, Liz Truss, who will replace Boris Johnson, took over as the new prime minister of the United Kingdom. He is the third president to occupy No. 10 Downing Street in the last five years. New general elections will be held in Italy this September, which will mean Third change of prime minister in last five years, However, these figures are not records. Five European Union (EU) countries had three heads of government during the same period, the other two have raised the figure to four, and two more have six and seven prime ministers, respectively, since 2018.
If we extend the time period analyzed to last ten years the changes increase. In this time, Romania has been the member state with the most frequent change of head of government.It is followed by Austria and Slovenia.
Hungary and the Netherlands are the only EU countries that have not changed their heads of government.Most EU countries have changed heads of government. Between three to five occasions during the last ten years, Notably, there are 15 member states including Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Belgium. In the UK, which officially broke away from the Community Club in 2020, four prime ministers have also been appointed since 2012, three of whom have succeeded each other since David Cameron stepped down in 2016.
Italy and Slovakia will have general elections before the end of 2022, so soon both countries will add another change of prime minister to their already wide numbers, as these member states have elected their heads of government on six and five occasions respectively. has changed to. , since 2012.
Hungary and the Netherlands are Only EU countries that have not changed their heads of government in the last decade. Viktor Orban and Mark Root have ruled their respective states uninterruptedly since 2010.
Romania is the member state where the prime minister has made the most changes: 14 men have held the position since 2012. It is followed by Austria with 8 changes of government, and Slovenia and France, with 7.
In the French case, it should be noted that in its semi-presidential system The powers of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister are often interchanged in view of the broader powers of the former. The current Prime Minister of France is Elisabeth Bourne, elected in 2022. Prior to his election, France had changed its prime minister five times, as shown in the graph. Since 2012, France has changed its president only four times, the last being Emmanuel Macron.
The case of Romania: who has changed his government the most
Romania is the country of the European Union with the largest number of heads of government. until 14 people have held the post of Prime Minister In the country since 2012, although the title has changed on 20 occasions (counting interim prime ministers who held office at the time). deadlock), because some of them repeated in position after losing it.
In 2015 it was the year in which the prime minister was changed the most times (seven, notably). This instability was, first of all, the result of the health problems of the then head of government, Victor Ponta, as well as the result of mass protests against government corruption.
The prime minister was also replaced four times between 2012 and 2013 due to a motion of condemnation for the government’s austerity program.
The youngest prime minister of the decade was Caitlin Predeau, who remained three days In the post on interim basis, between February 6 and 9, 2012. His successor, Mihai Razwan Ungurenu, lasted only three months.
Over the past decade, the heads of government of the European Union and the United Kingdom have been, on average, about 4.8 years old, Spain is above the European average, as the average is 5.3 years.
The country in which the Prime Minister has been the longest – except in Hungary and the Netherlands where there has been no change – Austria and Germany (with an average of 17 years in power)and Luxembourg (with 13).
Poland is where the prime minister spends the least amount of time in government. Since 2012, their heads of government have had an average time of 9 months in power, the shortest in the European Union. They are followed by Bulgaria (17 months), Austria and Greece (18 months) and Italy (19 months).
