One? Two? Who goes first? Political negotiations are tricky and consensus is even harder.
Romania’s two biggest political parties, the Liberals and the Social Democrats, are currently locked in negotiations about the formation of a new government.
Parliamentary backing
A coalition with solid parliamentary backing is designed to end weeks of political stalemate and help authorities cope with the pandemic and rising energy prices.
But the pressing question of recent days is not who gets the big jobs in the Cabinet, but which party gets to appoint a prime minister. The next question is whether there should be an unprecedented agreement to share the role.
Liberal Party chairman and acting Premier Florin Cîţu favors one nomination from the Liberal-Social Democrat alliance. His government was dismissed in a no-confidence vote on October 5 after he lost his majority when a junior party quit the coalition. Two attempts to form a government after that failed.
Prime minister
The National Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party agreed to form an alliance to form a new government. The Social Democrats have 152 seats, the Liberals 117.
The Liberal leader doesn’t want each group to forward a separate candidate to President Klaus Iohannis. The president formally designates a prime minister to form a government that needs to be approved by parliament.
The Liberals say that if both sides agree to ‘rotate’ the post, then the Liberals should have the first stab, News.ro reported.
Social Democrat chairman Marcel Ciolacu says his party, the biggest in the parliament, agrees with the “rotating solution.” However, he is still waiting for confirmation from the Liberals that they support this option which would be a first in Romania.
The answer came late Tuesday. The Liberals voted to have „an alternating system” for the post pf premier. Mr Citu said „the first proposal should come from the National Liberal Party. That is the decision.”
The next round of negotiations will focus on who that will be.
Scenario
Of course in that scenario, the Social Democrats have to agree to the Liberals having first choice.
President Klaus Iohannis, a former Liberal chairman, however get to make the final pick. Mr Citu declined to confirm whether he had spoken to the head of state about the negotiations.
Romania’s ruling Liberals begin negotiations with rival Social Democrats for new gov’t
