The Prime Minister-designate, Nicolae Ciuca, is meeting on Monday, at 12:00, the chair of USR (Save Romania Union), Dacian Ciolos, to discuss the governing programme.
“Dacian Ciolos, the chair of USR, will meet on Monday, at 12:00, at the USR parliamentary group, with Prime Minister-designate Nicolae Ciuca. The meeting was requested on Friday by the PM-designate,” USR informed.
The President of the Senate, Anca Dragu, said on Sunday evening that the meeting between Dacian Ciolos and the Prime Minister will not be one for negotiations.
“On Monday there will be a discussion between USR chair Dacian Ciolos and Prime Minister-designate Nicolae Ciuca. The Prime Minister-designate wants to discuss his intentions with this government. Mr Ciuca made it clear that he wants to present his intentions for a minority government – the team, the programme. It is not a negotiation,” Dragu said.
The leadership of PNL (National Liberal Party), the UDMR (Democratic Union of Hungarians of Romania) and the Prime Minister-designate had, both on Saturday and Sunday, a series of meetings at the Victoria Governmental Palace to complete the governing programme.
According to a PNL press release, the teams of experts from the PNL and the UDMR also participated in the discussions, in the presence of the chairs of the two parties, Florin Citu and Kelemen Hunor.
The Liberals also had consultations with the representatives of the national minorities on Saturday.
At the same time, the Prime Minister-designate had a telephone conversation with the PSD (Social Democratic Party) chair, Marcel Ciolacu, on Saturday afternoon, the two agreeing that the political negotiations should take place after the completion of the governing programme.
PM-designate Ciuca: PNL set to identify solutions in support of minority Gov’t
Prime Minister-designate Nicolae Ciuca said on Monday, before the meeting with USR (Save Romania Union) leader Dacian Ciolos, that PNL’s (National Liberal Party) current mission is to identify solutions in support of a minority government, for which purpose it will hold talks with all parties that want to understand that solutions are needed against the crisis.
“We are in the Romanian Parliament and I hope to have a dialogue here and look for solutions. It is very easy to say “we don’t wish to do it,” but I don’t think we can afford this right now, to just say “we don’t wish to do it.” (…) I came here to have a dialogue and to look for solutions,” Ciuca stated, in Parliament, before the meeting with the USR representatives.
He also said that he will have discussions with all those willing.
“We will have a discussion with all those who are willing to have this discussion and understand that we need to find solutions to the crisis. (…) The current mission of our party is this: to look for support for a minority government,” Ciuca added.
He said he had completed the governing programme.
“I talked to Mr Marcel Ciolacu over the phone. We said that we are going to complete the governing programne, while analyzing their 10 proposed priority measures. We have completed the programme, we are completing the measures and, after today’s meeting with USR leader Dacian Ciolos, we will resume talks. We are open to dialogue, to establish – where, how and when we are going to establish everything,” prime minister-designate added, when asked if he was willing to form a government together with PSD or not.
Asked if he met with PSD leaders, Ciuca replied: “No, I was at the government all day yesterday.”
Mosteanu: USR not to vote for minority Gov’t; rebuilding coalition, distant prospect
The Save Romania Union (USR) will not vote for a minority government, the party’s deputy chairman and spokesman Ionut Mosteanu, the USR floor leader in the Chamber of Deputies, said on Monday.
“I understand that he will come up today to present the government agenda, as if a government agenda, some good thoughts on paper, would be a guarantee. No, the guarantee is the good intentions and professionalism of the people who implement such an agenda and of course the majority behind the government (…) USR will not vote for a minority government. Now, we don’t need a minority government. Two weeks ago, when Dacian Ciolos was the prime minister-designate, our first option was to rebuild the coalition, but our partners rejected us,” Mosteanu told RFI radio broadcaster.
According to him, the prime minister-designate makes “normal steps,” namely discussing with all political parties.
Asked under what circumstances USR would accept the restoration of the coalition with the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR), Mosteanu said that such a scenario does not exist on the table yet, after “the PNL option, voiced by President Iohannis, was that USR is the source of all problems.”
He added that “a 26-percent party cannot claim to have a divine right to invite others to form a government.”
Ciuca after the meeting with USR leadership: They gave a sharp answer that it does not support a minority government, but the restoration of the coalition
Prime Minister-designate Nicolae Ciuca said on Monday after a meeting with Save Romania Union (USR) leader Dacian Ciolos that the party gave a “sharp” answer that it does not support a minority government, but the restoration of the coalition, noting that this situation would be discussed in National Liberal Party (PNL) and a decision would be made.
“We went to argue the project for which we requested this meeting and there is a very clear answer: USR does not support a minority government and there is a solution, namely that of rebuilding the coalition,” Ciuca said.
He said he would present the USR response to the PNL leadership and a decision would be made.
“Not having a mandate, I could not answer this topic. I will go to the party and discuss with the party leadership and we will see what decision is made. (…) At this moment, we have concluded the talks with USR and depending on what decision we make, we will continue the negotiation process,” added Nicolae Ciuca.
Ciolos: Solution is PNL majority with either PSD or USR
The chairman of Save Romania Union – Party of Liberty, Unity and Solidarity alliance (USR PLUS) Dacian Ciolos, declared on Monday after the discussion with PM designate Nicolae Ciuca, that his feeling was “a meeting just for show”, given that the decision of USR remains unchanged, that of not supporting a minority Government, but restoring the coalition, and mentioned that the solution would be forming a PNL (National Liberal Party) majority with either PSD (Social Democratic Party), or with USR.
“Mister Ciuca presented the mandate to me of looking for a majority or support in Parliament for a minority Government and a crisis governing program. (…) From what Mister Ciuca told me, there is not much of a difference between what we proposed last week in the governing program and what his Government intends to propose. (…) We, USR, believed, when neither PNL nor PSD made any proposals for PM and did not vote our proposal in Parliament, that they found a better solution, that there is an understanding already between the two parties, just so we can see that PNL comes with the same proposal which it rejected last week,” Ciolos said during a press conference.
He added that he explained to the PM designate that given the circumstances, USR cannot support a crisis Government.
The USR leader told the PM designate that USR has four conditions to negotiate a possible restoration of the coalition.
“Mister Ciuca asked me under what conditions we would discuss and negotiate a possible restoration of the coalition and I explained what the measures are. I told him that such talks need to start form a reforms calendar, to take responsibility for them, with clear measures. A second element would be a budget for 2022, a general building framework of the budget and priorities, so we won’t have to sit around after restoring the coalition, to discuss in Government about how to share the money between Ministries. (…) A third element, a protocol of ensuring the coalition’s functioning, which would be very clear about how the decisions are being made in the coalition, in order to avoid discussions that we had in the past, which also led to the coalition’s dismemberment, and also a fourth element – a Government structure which should be the one agreed upon since the start of the former coalition’s term,” Ciolos specified.
PNL’s Citu: I expect PSD, USR show responsibility and vote for the minority government
The chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL), Florin Citu, reiterated on Monday that he expects the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Save Romania Union (USR) show responsibility and vote for the minority government, showing that if the two formations do not support this Executive, the only option is early elections.
“PNL has showed responsibility, flexibility, the desire to solve this political crisis. It came and changed the mandate, from a chairman of the PNL for PM it came with another candidate. It’s what those in the PSD and USR were saying. PSD said very clearly it doesn’t want to govern, so we have no discussion to have with them. USR left government and together with those in PSD and AUR [Alliance for the Union of Romanians] took down a Government without having a solution. The responsible solution today is to vote for this minority Government, that would show on the part of the USR and the PSD responsibility and that they are interested in Romanians and not only for votes, electoral schemes or their electoral plans and we move forward and we deal with solving the crisis in Romania. If not, as I’ve said each time, all the options are on the table, including early elections,” said Citu at the headquarters of the PNL.
He claimed that USR doesn’t need to go in opposition, but should show responsibility.
“If the USR remains stuck in a single option, we have no way to discuss. All people should show responsibility. Today, USR is showing lack of responsibility. PNL made an important step. The chairman of the party made an important step, moved out of the way, PNL came with a different mandate. Where is the responsibility of those in the USR? Let’s see what concession those in the USR make. Today, for Romanians, they should vote this Government, get over winter and then we can talk. (…) If the interest of those in the PSD and the USR is to destroy the PNL, I will never allow it,” said Citu.
In case the two formations do not support this Executive, he added, the only option is early elections.
“It’s the only option. It seems the PSD and USR want early elections and then all we saw in this period from the PSD and the USR were just empty words. (…) If the USR only wants positions… because ultimately that’s how we see it. The USR only wants positions, they’re not interested in the good of Romanians. I showed that position doesn’t matter to me. PNL showed this,” the PNL chair also said.
The PNL leader claimed that the ten measures proposed by PSD show frivolity and reiterated that the PNL’s mandate is a minority government with UDMR and the national minorities, other than the Hungarian one.
Regarding a possible return of USR to power, Citu replied that this party always had this option and that it could choose it before voting on the motion against PNL.
“Nobody proposed this in the PNL leadership. (…) There is no point in talking about scenarios,” the Liberal leader also said.
Compiled from Agerpres
