Nicușor Dan has decided: Only on Monday will the parties in Cotroceni be called to the official consultations for the formation of the new Government
The official consultations at the Cotroceni Palace for the formation of a new Government will most likely take place on Monday, official sources told HotNews.
Since last week, when he met informally with the leaders of the former broken coalition, Nicușor Dan discussed with them to try to find solutions for the exit from the crisis. Such talks are expected to take place on Thursday and Friday ahead of formal consultations, according to the same sources.
President Nicușor Dan had announced on Tuesday morning that he was going to summon the leaders of the parliamentary parties “on Thursday or Monday” to the official consultations.
The negotiations for the new Government will take place on Monday because the president has a busy agenda on Thursday, and on Friday Kelemen Hunor will be in Cluj, where he will participate in the Council of Union Representatives of the UDMR, to establish the mandate with which he will go to the Cotroceni Palace. And USR leader Dominic Fritz will be gone on Friday.
Most likely, this first round of consultations will not be concluded with the appointment of a new prime minister, but, according to HotNews sources, the president will call the party leaders to Cotroceni until a solution is found.
The variants on the president's table
At the moment, all the scenarios are on the president's table, whether it is about restoring the coalition, a minority government formed by PSD, UDMR and the National Minorities or by PNL, USR and UDMR.
The option of a technocratic government is also taken into account. However, the scenario that Ilie Bolojan is appointed again by the president is not analyzed for the moment.
In addition, President Nicușor Dan announced that he will not appoint a prime minister if he is not sure that he will gather the necessary votes to pass the vote of confidence test in Parliament, even if that would mean prolonging the discussions and the interim cabinet led by Ilie Bolojan.
Official sources explained to HotNews that the head of state will impose some conditions, a “roadmap” for the future Government, regardless of the solution found after the consultations.
For example, in the speech delivered on Saturday, on the occasion of Europe Day, Nicușor Dan said that the future Executive will have the objective of defining the budget for next year by autumn.
“I reaffirm: Romania will have a pro-Western government within a reasonable period of time. There is agreement on the big policies, OECD, SAFE, PNRR. There is agreement on Romania's assumed fiscal trajectory and, in this sense, the incoming Government will have the objective of defining and proposing to the Parliament the budget for 2027 by the autumn”, declared, on the occasion of May 9, the president.
The scenario of early elections, excluded
On Tuesday evening, asked if there is a risk that Romania will reach early elections in the context of the political deadlock, the head of state said that he does not see this option as a realistic one.
He reiterated that he sees no risk that Romania will move away from the pro-Western direction and declared himself optimistic about the interval in which the issue of the new government will be resolved: “quite quickly”.
“Regarding our internal political crisis, it will be resolved in a pro-Western direction and in a time frame that I appreciate quite quickly. There is no risk that Romania deviates from this pro-Western direction”, declared Nicușor Dan.
“The Romanian constitution is quite complicated in the scenario of early elections. We did not have early elections after 1989, and that is why we exclude this scenario,” continued the head of state.
The statements were made at the Cotroceni Palace, where Nicușor Dan received the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, before the Bucharest 9 Summit that will take place on Wednesday. The two leaders held a joint press conference.
