The Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) cannot be an element of decoration in a future government, the chairman of the Union, Kelemen Hunor, said on Friday at the end of a new round of negotiations on the establishment of a new governing majority.
Asked at the Palace of Parliament whether the UDMR will remain in power in case it is left without one of the three portfolios, especially Development, Kelemen Hunor said that “anything is possible”, except for the UDMR to be an element of decoration in a future cabinet.
He added that the UDMR was not “sabotaged” by anyone and was “extremely fair” throughout the negotiations for the formation of a new majority.
He stated that UDMR does not give up the Ministry of Development.
The Union leader recalled that there was a time when the UDMR had a proposal for prime minister, but “took a step back” and “did not ask for anyone’s support”.
The UDMR head said the political agreement had been finalized, and expressed hope that next week the new government would be voted on by Parliament.
“The political agreement is finalized, still to be completed with the prime minister, ministers, portfolios, but in the rest we have managed to complete it. In principle, we can expect a vote in Parliament next week, on Thursday, if things are completed by Monday morning. (…),” pointed out Kelemen Hunor.
PNL’s Citu: . I would be the last to say that UDMR will leave the government
National Liberal Party (PNL) leader Florin Citu on Friday stated that he does not want the UDMR (Democratic Union of Hungarians of Romania) to leave the government and showed that he wants the Liberals to take over the ministries of Finance and Justice.
Asked how the negotiations are going, in the context in which UDMR threatens to leave the government, if they do not get the Ministry of Development, he answered: “Negotiations are ongoing. There will always be more difficult moments, but we are still negotiating.”
Regarding the information that appeared that he would not want the UDMR to be in government, he said that it was “stupid.”
“This is stupid. On the contrary: they are the partners who were with me. I would be the last to say that UDMR will leave the government. This is really stupid,” Citu claimed.
He said he wanted PNL to take over both Finance and Justice ministries.
“Yes, I would like that. In winter I remind you that everyone fought for Finance. (…) When you have a prime minister it is important to have the Minister of Finance as well. It is complicated to be a Prime Minister without Finance. It’s hard to get to have the Finance and Justice ministries both, but if we negotiate well… Let’s see. I care a lot about Finance. I for one believe that PNL proved it can manage very well Romania’s finance and I believe that we can do that from now on too. We will see the results of the negotiations,” said Florin Citu.
Asked how he will try to keep the Finance Ministry for PNL, in the context in which this ministry is also wanted by PSD, he replied that negotiations are still taking place and “nothing is nailed down.”
“There are negotiations. There is nothing nailed down. There are negotiations to try to prevent each party from leaving the table feeling that it has been tricked,” said Citu.
The PNL leader denied that President Klaus Iohannis had asked him to take a step back and not be a prime minister.
Compiled from Agerpres
