President Nicușor Dan announced on Thursday that he is proposing Siegfried Mureșan for the position of prime minister.
However, it remains to be seen if he will manage to obtain the majority in Parliament, meaning 233 votes.
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So far, only the three formations that have proposed Siegfried Mureșan as prime minister have announced that they will vote for him.
These are PNL, USR, and UDMR. And the three parties only have 186 votes in Parliament.
Which parties will vote for a government led by Siegfried Mureșan
- PNL
The President of the Senate, liberal Mircea Abrudean, stated that a Government with full powers is needed, emphasizing that the designated prime minister, Siegfried Mureșan, has proven his efficiency as a politician in Brussels, an experience that now needs to be put at the service of Romania.
"Siegfried Mureșan has accepted his nomination as prime minister by the President of Romania. We urgently need a Government with full powers. Siegfried Mureșan has demonstrated his efficiency in Brussels: Vice President of the EPP and of the EPP Group in the European Parliament and negotiator for the future multiannual budget of the EU, worth nearly 2,000 billion euros. Now, this experience needs to be put at the service of Romania," wrote Abrudean on Facebook.
- USR
The President of USR, Dominic Fritz, stated that Siegfried Mureșan is the prime minister Romania needs, and USR will stand by him to find parliamentary support for investiture.
However, Fritz says that it will not be easy to form a majority in Parliament.
"It will not be easy to find a majority for this agenda of courage in parliament. We will not sell our principles for fake stability. But we are prepared to find compromise points, even with PSD, whose votes will decide whether this minority government will pass or not," the President of USR further stated.
USR continues to support Siegfried Mureșan for the position of prime minister and considers his nomination by the head of state a "logical choice," as stated by the party's spokesperson, Cristian Seidler.
"We continue to support Siegfried Mureșan in his endeavor to form a government. His nomination is not a surprise, as compared to any other nomination from PSD, he started with a lead of several dozen votes in Parliament. So, the President made the logical choice by nominating Siegfried Mureșan. We rely on the support of all those who in the days and weeks prior were claiming urgently that Romania needs a full-fledged Government. Well, now there is a nomination. I think it would be logical and consistent for everyone to offer their vote for the Siegfried Mureșan Government, with full powers, to solve all those problems that PSD left in the state budget for this year," he specified to Agerpres.
- UDMR
UDMR announced that it will vote for a government led by Siegfried Mureșan.
"How could we not vote? We were the ones who proposed him, right? Together with the National Liberal Party and USR. It was our proposal for the position of prime minister. Of course, now we are trying to find a majority for Mr. Siegfried Mureșan," stated UDMR leader, Csoma Botond, on Digi 24.
UDMR President, Kelemen Hunor, also stated that Siegfried Mureșan's mission is to build a parliamentary majority, and UDMR will be a partner in this endeavor. Kelemen Hunor further stated that UDMR does not compromise on one thing: "We do not accept a majority based on the votes of AUR and extremist parties."
Which parties will not vote for a government led by Siegfried Mureșan
- PSD
PSD President, Sorin Grindeanu, stated that he received with "surprise and disappointment" the President's decision to designate Siegfried Mureșan as prime minister and criticized this choice.
"I received with surprise and disappointment the proposal of President Nicușor Dan regarding the position of Prime Minister of Romania," Sorin Grindeanu transmitted on Facebook.
The PSD leader argues that the choice of Siegfried Mureșan is hard to understand, leveling accusations at the activities of the MEP in Brussels.
"It is hard to understand what arguments the head of state had to choose someone like Siegfried Vasile Mureșan who, just a few days before this designation, was fiercely campaigning in Brussels against his own country for the cut of European funds," Grindeanu stated.
In his message, the PSD president also used the term "betrayal," stating that it can never be associated with defending national interests.
- AUR
AUR will also not vote for a government led by Siegfried Mureșan. The leader of the party, George Simion, posted on Facebook a message using the symbols of flags of certain countries and the PSD logo to convey the party's position regarding supporting a government led by Siegfried Mureșan.
"We do not vote for Germany, nor France, nor three roses. Only Romania," Simion stated in the post.
- PACE
The PACE-First Romania parliamentary group, which has 7 members in the Senate, also announces that it does not support a government led by Siegfried Mureșan.
"We demand that PNL and USR withdraw Siegfried Mureșan and spare themselves the shame of a negative vote in Parliament. After the withdrawal or the vote against the PNL-USR candidate, we expect a serious proposal for prime minister and a Government that will serve Romania, not other states and not Brussels," the parliamentarians stated.
A PSD-AUR majority is already functioning punctually in Parliament
Since the beginning of the new parliamentary session, a de facto alliance between PSD and AUR has been operating in Parliament.
It is worth mentioning that PSD, AUR, SOS Romania, Uniți pentru România, representatives of minorities, and UDMR parliamentarians voted together for the redistribution of positions in the Standing Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies.
PNL and USR lost two leadership positions, which were taken over by AUR and SOS Romania.
Subsequently, PSD and AUR placed their people at the helm of TVR and public radio.
The vote does not prove the existence of a governing coalition, but it shows that PSD can build punctual majorities with AUR, SOS, and other parliamentarians, which gives them greater negotiating power in relation to the President and right-wing parties.