PSD, PNL and UDMR had the first official round of negotiations on Tuesday for the formation of the new government, after PNL and PSD had agreed to sit at the negotiating table a day ago.
PNL chairman Florin Cîțu said that it was a good discussion, and admitted that a higher number of ministries is being considered.
“It is a discussion to expand the number of ministries form 18 to 20,” he argued, adding that a variant would be that the party that gives the PM should have less ministries. Citu said that UDMR will probably have the same number of ministries as it has now.
The Liberal chair also said that there were not talks about names of ministers yet.”We discussed the governing program and its timetable,” Citu said.
Asked about the PSD’s desire to give up the single quota in exchange for a progressive tax, Cîțu said that this was not discussed but that, no matter what decision will be taken, the taxes will not increase. “It was a first discussion with PSD, UDMR and minorities and we discussed a calendar and governing program. Tomorrow we will start with the important points on the economic and social side and, after that, we will move on”, Cîţu added.
In his turn, UDMR leader Kelemen Hunor stated that a negotiation schedule has been established, so that on November 17-18 the new Cabinet can go to the Parliament to ask for the investiture vote.
“After we agree on the program and the political agreement, we can talk about the position of prime minister as well. We have started the discussions on the ministries, I am convinced that we will find a solution that will include both the principles related to numbers, mathematics and the political principle. We discussed about a timetable. We believe that on November 17-18 you can give a vote, hearings in committees, and on November 18 in Parliament,” Kelemen Hunor stated.
PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu said there was no details yet about the number of ministries getting less or more. “There will be share that the Romanians gave us at the past elections”, he said.
Asked if PSD intends to dismantle the Special Section for Investigating Magistrates (SIIJ), Ciolacu replied that the judiciary experts will have a say on that. “We saw how the justice has worked without SIIJ and with SIIJ. But we’d better make SIIJ more functional”, Ciolacu added.
The PNL negotiation team consisted in Florin Cîţu, Lucian Bode, Gheorghe Flutur, Dan Vîlceanu, Iulian Dumitrescu and Rareş Bogdan.
PSD delegation was made of Marcel Ciolacu, Gabriela Firea, Vasile Dîncu, Sorin Grindeanu and Paul Stănescu, while the UDMR team consisted in Kelemen Hunor, Tancos Barna, Cseke Atilla and Csoma Botond.