After several days of tensions over the formation of the new government and the governing program, the leaders of the parties in the pro-European coalition are holding new negotiations at Victoria Palace. The meeting, which began at 4:00 p.m., was also attended by USR leaders, who left after only 20 minutes.
The USR delegation left Victoria Palace after presenting to the other parties a set of eight requests that should be included in a future governing program.USR President Elena Lasconi expressed her dissatisfaction with the dialogue with the other parties. “They didn’t understand anything from the Romanians’ vote. They are trying to do exactly the same thing and we have different expectations (…) While we were discussing the budget, it was a dialogue of the deaf,” Lasconi declared.
She presented the eight-point program with which USR came to the Victoria Palace, the first being the adoption of the budget by Monday, which “can be done if there is political will.” The second point is the dismissal by Parliament of Toni Greblă from the position of president of the Permanent Electoral Authority.
USR’s Demands:
- Urgent adoption of the 2025 budget by Parliament.
- Dismissal of AEP President Toni Greblă.
- Formation of a coalition committee to investigate election organization conditions and prevent foreign influence.
- Immediate dismissal of intelligence services leadership.
- Depoliticization and reform of the Constitutional Court (CCR).
- Two-round mayoral elections and a maximum of 300 parliamentarians.
- Immediate adoption of an emergency ordinance on fiscal measures for next year.
- All coalition parties to demand President Iohannis’ resignation on the end of his term (December 21).
- Joint agreement on a Senate President to become interim President until presidential elections.
- Organization of the “No Convicted Individuals in Public Office” referendum.
USR leaders were aware of today’s meeting at 16:00 this time, after discussing it with leaders of the other coalition parties, unlike yesterday when the party leaders said they had not been invited.
The PSD, PNL, UDMR and the National Minorities Group agreed on Tuesday, after a meeting at the Victoria Palace, on the principles of the future government program, which will include “reforms and investments” and will be one of “reducing state spending and modernizing Romania”. Among the measures outlined by the coalition are the progressive taxation of large fortunes and the reduction of taxes and labor taxes, in the case of people with low salaries and families with children. USR was excluded from the calculations made by the main pro-European parties for the future joint government program.
The Parliament is needed to install the new government, so today’s meeting will discuss both the government program and the positions in the new Parliament, including the presidents of the two chambers.
Several fiscal measures, which are usually regulated at the end of the year through a trenulet ordinance (emergency ordinance), will remain the responsibility of the future government, because they are elements related to the future budget, government sources said on Wednesday.
The minimum wage in agriculture, which from January 1, 2025 would be lower than the gross minimum wage in the country, will be aligned with the gross minimum wage in the country, a measure that will be found in the trenulet ordinance. Another measure will be the one related to the non-taxation of 300 lei from the gross minimum wage, which will be 4,050 lei from January 1, 2025.