President Nicușor Dan proposed Liberal (PNL) MEP Siegfried Mureșan as Romania’s next prime minister on Thursday, September 17, saying he had received the highest level of support among parliamentary parties present at the consultations held earlier in the day.
In his turn, Mureșan accepted the proposal shortly afterwards, announcing on Facebook: “I accept the proposal made by the president of Romania.”
The announcement followed almost six hours of consultations with political parties and came more than four months after the government led by PNL leader Ilie Bolojan was dismissed through a no-confidence motion supported by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).
Romania has since been governed by a caretaker administration under interim prime minister Bolojan.
“We are more than four months past the dismissal of the government, and during this time we have had hundreds of hours of discussions with the political parties to find a way out of this crisis,” president Dan said.
“I have seen a great deal of electoral concern among the parties and less concern for the national interest,” he added. “Romania needs a government.”
The president said no governing majority had emerged despite the lengthy negotiations. He therefore chose the person who received the largest number of declared votes of support from parliamentary parties present at Thursday’s consultations.
“I have chosen to nominate, to propose as prime minister, the person who had the most expressed votes during today’s consultations: Siegfried Mureșan,” Dan said. “Beyond the fact that he was proposed by three parties, he is a person with experience in the European Parliament who has negotiated important matters over time. He has the expertise for this position.”
Mureșan was backed by the PNL, Save Romania Union Party (USR), and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR). The three parties had first put his name forward following talks held in late June.
During Thursday’s consultations, USR said it would support either a minority government formed by USR, PNL, and UDMR under Siegfried Mureșan or a rotation involving minority governments. PNL said it wanted a credible prime minister and a programme focused on controlling public finances, reducing state expenditure and continuing administrative reforms.
PSD, the largest parliamentary group, proposed party leader Sorin Grindeanu and argued that it was entitled to head the government after winning the 2024 parliamentary election. AUR said it would not support any cabinet in which it was not represented.
In a first reaction, Grindeanu later said he had received the president’s proposal “with surprise and disappointment” and strongly criticized the choice of Siegfried Mureșan. He accused the Liberal MEP of campaigning in Brussels against Romania and seeking cuts to the country’s European funding.
“It is difficult to understand what arguments the head of state had for choosing someone like Siegfried Vasile Mureșan, who, only days before this nomination, was fiercely campaigning in Brussels against his own country for cuts to European funds,” Grindeanu said. “Betrayal can never go hand in hand with defending national interests.”
The PSD leader also blamed interim prime minister Ilie Bolojan for prolonging the political uncertainty and claimed that more than RON 30 billion, equivalent to approximately 1.5% of GDP, was missing from the state budget.
Grindeanu called a meeting of PSD’s National Permanent Bureau for Monday, September 21, when the party is due to assess what he described as “the right wing’s proposal.”
“Unlike PNL-USR, we understand that political conflict must stop where the legitimate interests of the country begin,” he said.
President Nicușor Dan acknowledged that the next prime minister would face a difficult mandate, particularly because of Romania’s fiscal position and the parliamentary configuration.
“Regardless of how we emerge from this equation, I am convinced that Romania will remain on its pro-Western path and fulfil its commitments, including those related to the fiscal trajectory and our relationship with financiers,” he said.
Siegfried Mureșan is serving his third term in the European Parliament after being elected on the PNL ticket, Biziday.ro reported. He is one of the European Parliament’s main negotiators for the European Union’s 2028–2034 budget and serves as a vice-president of both the European People’s Party and its parliamentary group.
Born in Hunedoara, Mureșan studied at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies and Humboldt University in Berlin. Before entering the European Parliament, he worked in Germany’s Bundestag and at the headquarters of the European People’s Party in Brussels.
Following his nomination by the president, Siegfried Mureșan must begin forming a government and secure the Parliament’s vote of confidence. His next challenge is to build a parliamentary majority capable of supporting his proposed cabinet and governing programme.
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