Eugen Tomac has officially ended the first round of negotiations and said he is “going all the way”. Next steps and how the parties position themselves
On Tuesday evening, the first round of official negotiations between Eugen Tomac and the majority of the parliamentary formations ended. The only two parties that were not involved in the discussions were AUR and SOS Romania.
The government still remains without clear support, but the prime minister-designate declares that he remains confident. Tomac will talk with Nicușor Dan, while the parties are going to convene meetings to consult whether they will vote or not, in the Parliament, for Tomac's cabinet.
On Monday and Tuesday, Prime Minister-designate Eugen Tomac made a tour of duty to the main parties, formations and groups in the Parliament. The second day of negotiations was marked by accusations related to the fact that some of the ministers proposed by Tomac are close to the PSD and to the fact that he chooses to negotiate with former parliamentarians of the parties considered to be anti-Western by both Nicușor Dan and Tomac.
“Fixed proposals of the PSD” / “We must be rational”
Ciprian Ciucu, who participated in Tomac's discussion from the PNL on Monday, sent a sharp message to the designated prime minister in the evening of the same day.
“The list of ministers that you presented to us today is sewn with white-phosphorescent thread”, the capital's mayor said, referring to proposals such as Nicolae Istudor, Ionuț Mașala or Vladimir Ionaș, which he says are “fixed proposals of the PSD”.
In a reaction to HotNews, Ionaș avoided answering the criticisms related to his proximity to the PSD and explained that he does not want to get into political conflicts.
In reply, Tomac explained, after calling several times for the parties' responsibility, that “we have to be rational”.
“We have to understand one basic thing: that we need a Government with full powers to unblock the activity of the Romanian state. The deadlock does a lot of harm,” he added.
“Sometimes in politics people change their options”
Tomac also chose to talk with the small groups newly formed in Parliament – United for Romania, PACE – but also with non-affiliates. Most of these MPs were elected on the POT or SOS Romania lists, considered by Nicușor Dan to be “anti-Western forces”.
Faced with this situation, the designated prime minister said that “as long as there are political people willing to support the goals that I have assumed, it is my obligation to listen to them because in politics people sometimes change their options”.
In reality, Tomac needs their votes – 63 in number, to get close to the necessary majority, in the absence of the 166 votes of PNL, USR and UDMR who made it clear that they will not vote for the investiture of the Government.
“Let's not be more Catholic than the Pope,” Tomac said in relation to the discussions with United for Romania and PACE parliamentarians.
Now that he has completed negotiations with all parties, Tomac will meet with the president in the coming days. He also declared on Monday night on Antena 3 CNN that he talked with the head of state after Monday's consultations.
Eugen Tomac has until June 14 to convince 233 parliamentarians to vote for the investiture of the Government he proposes.
If he fails to coagulate a majority, he can submit the mandate he received from the president before the vote takes place, as Lucian Croitoru, Theodor Stolojan, Florin Cîțu, Dacian Cioloș, Nicolae Ciucă and Liviu Negoiță did in the past, or go to the vote and not collect the necessary votes.
If Tomac does not pass the Parliament's vote, the president is prepared to appoint a new technocrat prime minister, one of the options being Radu Burnete, according to HotNews information.
Moreover, Eugen Tomac already informed the PNL and USR leaders of Nicușor Dan's decision.
None of the major parties guarantee the vote. The final decisions will come in the second part of the week
The first discussion took place at the PNL headquarters, where Tomac met with Ilie Bolojan, with two of the first vice-presidents – Ciprian Ciucu and Adrian Veștea, with the general secretary of the party Dan Motreanu, the president of the Senate Mircea Abrudean and the leader of the liberal deputies Gabriel Andronache.
After the talk with the PNL, the prime minister-designate said he was leaving the meeting confident, and then repeated the same at the end of each negotiation. But Ilie Bolojan made it clear that PNL will not vote for the investiture of the Government.
At each of the meetings, Eugen Tomac presented the political leaders with a list of ministers, however incomplete, because he did not complete the discussions for all the ministries.
- Radu Burnete – proposal for the position of deputy prime minister. Now he is a presidential adviser on economic issues.
- Sorin Costreie – proposal for deputy prime minister and minister of education. Now, he is a presidential adviser on education and research.
- Dan Neculăescu – proposal for the position of Minister of Defense. Currently, he is Romania's ambassador to NATO.
- Vladimir Ionas – proposal for the position of Minister of Development, sociologist. Șerban Țigănaș, an architect in Cluj, was also circulated for this portfolio.
- Ionut Masala – proposal for the position of Minister of Transport. Now he is the economic deputy director general of the National Road Infrastructure Administration Company (CNAIR).
- Diana Morar – proposal for the position of Minister of Labor. A lawyer by profession, Morar was a PNL deputy in the 2020-2024 legislature.
- Teodor Dulceață – proposal for the position of Minister of the Environment. Now, he is the deputy general secretary of the ministry.
- Nicolae Istudor – proposal for the position of Minister of Agriculture. He is the rector of ASE.
- Florin Duma – proposal for the position of Minister of Economy. He is currently the first vice-president of IMM Romania.
- Carmen Moraru – proposal for the position of Minister of European Funds. Moraru is now secretary of state in MIPE.
- Adrian Papahagi – proposal for the position of Minister of Culture.
- Luca Niculescu – proposal for the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs. Currently, he is secretary of state in the MFA and the national coordinator who directly manages the process of Romania's accession to the OECD
These are the names that the prime minister-designate submitted to the parties and which, according to HotNews sources, are nailed down. For the Ministries of Health, Finance, Energy and the Interior, discussions are not yet complete.
Likewise, the discussions at each of the parties focused on solutions, on the government program and were “applied”, explained Tomac.
It follows that on Thursday at 10:00, the PNL leaders will meet and officially decide whether or not they will support the Tomac Government and how they will proceed with the vote – whether they will sit in the benches or not.
PSD remains open to the option of a Tomac Government, but sets conditions
Also on Monday, Tomac sat face to face with Sorin Grindeanu and 5 of the party leaders: Claudiu Manda, general secretary, Bogdan Ivan, Marius Oprescu, Ionuț Pucheanu, Corneliu Ștefan – first vice-presidents and Marian Neacșu. The Social Democrats have clearly asked the Prime Minister-designate to “fundamentally change the Bolognese model of austerity” if he wants their support.
The PSD demands, among other things, that no new taxes and duties be introduced, that the VAT be reduced on food and medicine, the indexation of pensions from 1 January, the increase of the minimum wage from 1 July, the elimination of CASS for mothers, veterans and people with disabilities, the expansion of reverse charge mechanisms in sectors at high risk of tax evasion, a “real” administrative reform and the “resumption of economic stimulation”.
Like the Liberals, the PSD leaders will have an extended meeting to decide whether they will vote for the Government. It is important to state that in the PSD there are people who are inclined not to vote for Tomac, as party sources say.
USR does not believe in the technocrat's solution
Tomac spent about an hour and a half at the USR headquarters. USR leaders remain aligned with PNL. “We hardly see any USR support for his Government,” Fritz told Tomac on Monday during the discussion. For his part, Eugen Tomac told them that if this Government does not pass the Parliament's vote, the president's second proposal for prime minister will also be a technocrat.
In the evening, Dominic Fritz told his party colleagues during an informal meeting how the talks with the prime minister-designate went. The conclusion of the meeting was that USR does not see the technocrat's solution as appropriate, party sources explained to HotNews.
The USR will also make a formal decision, in the Political Committee, but until then Dominic Fritz will call Eugen Tomac again to discuss.
Tomac: “I refuse to believe that some parties want to keep Romania isolated”
At the end of Monday, Eugen Tomac was asked if PNL and USR are irresponsible if they do not vote for the Government.
“I refuse to believe that due to political calculations that I do not understand now, some parties want Romania to remain an isolated country. I am betting on a responsible action”, was his answer, after all day he appealed to the parties' responsibility.
Asked if he will go to the Parliament even if he does not have the 233 votes necessary for the investiture, Eugen Tomac said that he “goes all the way on this line”.
UDMR cannot promise to vote “for”
On Tuesday, Tomac continued negotiations to support the Government. The first stop was at UDMR. The discussions lasted about an hour, and at the end he was asked by journalists how long he thought he would last at the Victoria Palace, if he got the votes of the parliamentary parties.
“A Government made up of members from outside the political parties will obviously have as much life as the Parliament wants. We must be aware of this reality. The President proposed this solution because the parties did not come up with another option”, was the answer of the appointed Prime Minister.
But the leader of UDMR, Kelemen Hunor, showed distrust in Eugen Tomac's chances to get the votes in the Parliament.
“Today I don't see the majority, but it's Tuesday, 11:30 a.m. However, we live in Romania and we have to wait for the moment of truth.”
UDMR can promise that its MPs will not vote against, but cannot guarantee that they will vote “for”, Kelemen Hunor also emphasized.
In the end, the UDMR leader drew attention to the fact that “we must not exaggerate and say that the Earth stops spinning if we do not have a Government on June 10. You cannot vote only to turn your back and go to the opposition, and then Eugen Tomac will go with the candle in parliament looking for a majority for the projects”.
Like the other parties, UDMR will make a clear decision on whether to support Tomac in the second part of the week.
How the calculations look
In order to be sworn in as prime minister, Tomac needs the vote of the majority of deputies and senators, i.e. 233 votes.
- PSD – 128 MPs
- GOLD – 90 MPs
- PNL – 76 parliamentarians
- USR – 59 MPs
- UDMR – 31 MPs.
- Minorities – 17 parliamentarians.
- United for Romania – 14 members
- The SOS Romania group – 15 members
- Unaffiliated – 15 deputies and 8 senators
- Pace-Intâi Romania Group – 11 senators
