Romania’s President Nicusor Dan expressed his frustration on Friday after failing to come to an agreement with the country’s warring political parties over a candidate for prime minister.
He implored the parties to return to a dialogue and deliver Romania “a fully functioning government.”
The country has been in political turmoil since May 5 when the Liberal-led coalition government was ousted in a no-confidence vote by the major governing party in the coalition, the Social Democrats or PSD. Dan then picked two candidates to head a new government, but both failed to get a majority.
The president had been expected to nominate a prime minister Friday tasked with getting support in Parliament, but had two options for the post of premier on the table and neither side would budge, he said.
However, he appeared more irritated with the Liberal Party who had previously said they supported a minority PSD government with leader Sorin Grindeanu serving as prime minister.
On Friday, the Liberals (PNL), together with the Union to Save Romania and the ethnic Hungarian Party, the UDMR proposed Siegfried Muresan, a Liberal MEP, as their candidate for prime minister.
“We have returned to the political deadlock that on Tuesday I thought we’d overcome. Based on the positions of the parties in consultations, there was only one formula that seemed to meet the support of a parliamentary majority: a PSD minority government,” Dan said in a Facebook post.
“On Tuesday, PNL pledged to vote for a PSD minority government, with certain conditions regarding the governing program,” he went on.
But from Tuesday until today “the PNL has changed its position,” he said calling on the parties to “negotiate among themselves a majority for any government formula they deem appropriate.”
“I continue to ask them to return to dialogue. Romania needs a government with full powers.
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