PSD President Sorin Grindeanu claims that in the last 11 months, the reforms promised by the government led by Ilie Bolojan have remained „at a declarative level” and accuses the Executive of confusing reform with layoffs in the public sector.
In an interview with Euronews Romania, the social-democratic leader said that the changes made in the administration do not represent real reforms.
"In these 11 months, we have only talked about reform at a declarative level. What reforms have there been? Tell me just one!" Grindeanu stated.
"That was not reform, that was mass layoff"
The PSD leader criticized the staff reductions in public institutions and argued that administrative reform should mean reorganization and digitalization, not just job cuts.
"That was not reform, that was mass layoff. (...) Administrative reform means something else entirely, it means mergers of administrative-territorial units, of communes, which at this moment, I believe, are waiting for the state to come and work in this area, that is reform! Reform means digitalization, reform means lower costs, it's true, but public services should remain at the same level or even possibly increased. I have not seen these things," Grindeanu said.
The PSD leader described the direction of the former Executive as "a bankrupt policy" and argued that a change of government was necessary.
- Bolojan: PSD threw the government into turmoil. Grindeanu needs to come and say what the solution is
Grindeanu: Bolojan "was the USR's prime minister"
Sorin Grindeanu directly attacked Ilie Bolojan, stating that he led the Government in the interest of USR, not the entire coalition.
"In these 11 months, he was actually the prime minister of USR, not the PNL prime minister. He was supposed to be the prime minister of this coalition and the prime minister of Romania. He did not understand his role," declared the PSD leader.
He believes this was one of the reasons why the motion of censure against the Bolojan Government passed "with this overwhelming score."
Irony towards USR: "The score could have been higher than 97.7%"
Grindeanu also commented on the relationship between PSD and USR, stating that if the social democrats had been asked in the internal consultation whether they still wanted an alliance with USR, the percentage against it would have been even higher than the one obtained in the vote on leaving the government.
"Probably if we had asked the second question, in that internal consultation that we had, related to USR, I would bet now that the percentage could have been higher than 97.7%," he said.
However, the PSD leader does not completely rule out a future coalition formula that includes USR.
"We are not the ones setting conditions at this moment. (...) We need to quickly find a solution, there must be a government," Grindeanu added, stating that "egos have no place" in the current political context.