President Nicușor Dan negotiated for a month to obtain a majority for a new government and failing to find it ended up appointing a prime minister who will have neither real powers in Parliament nor real autonomy in relation to the head of state.
In the best case scenario, although difficult and expensive, the president can find the minimum number of votes to get Eugen Tomac’s Cabinet invested. But the crisis will not end there, and will simply go into another stage.
Nicușor Dan relies on the support of PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu to make Eugen Toma prime minister, because the new formula, a “technical” government conveniently allows the PSD to avoid taking responsibility for the running the country (it would have been required to undertake painful reforms on the cusp of 2028 parliamentary elections), but at the same time the PSD wants to manipulate the government behind the scenes (it is already doing this together with the AUR).
Nicușor Dan could also rely on the Hungarians (UDMR) which is good in critical moments, as well as representatives from the minority seats who could vote Eugen Tomac into Victoria Palace.
At the same time, the “technical” which is a life raft could also appeal to MPs in groups that are most threatened by early elections.
We can’t rule out Nicușor Dan getting isolated deserters from PNL and USR.
All this implies a massive effort on the part of the head of state, but skirts round the most important part and the country’s broader interest: the act of governing itself, the structural reforms that the new government needs to make even with ex-PM Ilie Bolojan out of the picture.
Because it will be difficult to get enough votes and the situation is volatile from the start, and the support will not last when Tomac’s government needs Parliament to approve economically necessary, but politically unpopular measures.
In other words, this is Nicușor Dan’s logic: you consume on your resources on negotiating a government which will have a struggle to be validated and after that you have few resources to help him do the job that really matters for the country.
It is a modest goal, to say the least, if you compare it both with Romania’s needs and with the presidential program which propelled Nicușor Danto president in 2025.
Despite the fact it took him a month to nominate a Prime Minister and despite the fact that he refused the rational solution – to nominate Sorin Grindeanu – on Friday Nicușor Dan failed to convincingly explain why Eurgen Tomac is not just a stopgap solution, who may or may not be validated by Parliament.
Instead, the head of state simply said : “I think it is a matter of responsibility for this government to pass, because we do not have an alternative.”
In other words, after months of not lifting a finger to discourage the PSD from demolishing a functional government and another month wasted protecting the PSD from paying for the broken pots with the hammer of the no-confidence vote, Nicușor Dan’s message essentially sounds like this: I have no solutions or plan, But I hope that, in the face of a fait accompli, the victims will close their eyes to the injustice and will accept to pay jointly.
He could have said it even more dryly: dear ones, this is life, please absolve me.
In 2024, when asked how he is doing with the unfulfilled promises from 2020, when he ran for Bucharest City Hall, Nicușor Dan answered: “I admit, I had certain naivety at the time I made them“.
It remains to be noted, in 2026, that “naivety” has not only not disappeared, but has gotten even worse.
