President Nicu\u0219or Dan proposed Liberal (PNL) MEP Siegfried Mure\u0219an 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.<\/p>\n
In his turn, Mure\u0219an accepted the proposal shortly afterwards, announcing on Facebook<\/a>: \u201cI accept the proposal made by the president of Romania.\u201d<\/p>\n 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<\/a> supported by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).<\/p>\n Romania has since been governed by a caretaker administration under interim prime minister Bolojan.<\/p>\n \u201cWe 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,\u201d president Dan said. 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI have chosen to nominate, to propose as prime minister, the person who had the most expressed votes during today\u2019s consultations: Siegfried Mure\u0219an,\u201d Dan said. \u201cBeyond 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Mure\u0219an 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n During Thursday\u2019s consultations<\/a>, USR said it would support either a minority government formed by USR, PNL, and UDMR under Siegfried Mure\u0219an 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI have seen a great deal of electoral concern among the parties and less concern for the national interest,\u201d he added. \u201cRomania needs a government.\u201d<\/p>\n