USR First Vice President Dominic Fritz said on Wednesday that his party would only be part of a government coalition if it undertook reforms. “We will have to draw a line and see if there are enough things we have in common, enough reforms,” Fritz said, a day after PSD, PNL, USR, UDMR and the minorities announced their “firm commitment to forming a pro-European majority in the Romanian Parliament, a pro-European government and supporting a possible common pro-European candidate in the presidential elections.
Fritz said that USR is going into these negotiations “with an open heart for Romania, with the courage to do what is necessary to put Romania back on a growth and democratic path,” but that “the hard work is only just beginning.”
“So I want to say very clearly that USR will be part of a government that undertakes reforms or it will not be part of the government. Now, the teams have started this work of negotiating the governing program, of seeing if we really have a common vision for what needs to follow, if all the parties really, as they said, have understood the signal of the voters in recent weeks and if this is the case, then we assume this co-responsibility for governing Romania,” Dominic Fritz said in a press conference about the negotiations for the formation of a majority and a governing coalition.
He specified that USR does not talk about red lines. “What must be clear is that this government assumes a reduction in state spending, it must be clear that this government assumes an administrative reform, it must be clear that this government also assumes a reform of the institutions that have failed in recent weeks, to include a reform of services, and it must be clear that this government assumes a return to the citizens of Romania and somehow close the chapter in which some privileged people took advantage of the resources of this country. These are the principles that we are negotiating and once again, in the end, we will have to draw a line and see if there are enough things that we have in common, enough reforms,” the mayor of Timisoara emphasized.
Dominic Fritz pointed out that “it is important for USR to have a government with a prime minister who takes on reforms”. “We are not entering this negotiation now with red lines of individuals or parties, but what is important is that the final package is one that can convince the citizens of Romania that, indeed, this government is not running away from the responsibility to reform this country”, Fritz also declared.