USR (Save Romania Union) will not vote for the PNL (National Liberal Party) – UDMR (Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania) minority Government, the Union’s spokesperson, Ionut Mosteanu, announced on Friday.
“USR took note of PNL’s decision of going in Parliament with a PNL-UDMR minority Government. USR will not vote for this minority Government, just as we said repeatedly, it supports the restoration of the PNL-USR-UDMR coalition, just as we said repeatedly. But PNL, through its decision of going forward with the decision taken a few days ago, of not making the term of PM designate Ciuca more flexible and going forward with this minority Government, is maintaining this political crisis,” Mosteanu said.
He added that if this minority Government will be adopted in Parliament, it will pass with the votes of PSD (Social Democratic Party).
However, PSD chairman Marcel Ciolacu said today that the party he is leading cannot vote a PNL-UDMR minority government “with a ruling programme that cuts the Romanians’ revenues”.
“PSD cannot vote for a PNL-UDMR minority government with a government programme that continues to cut, without mercy, the revenues of Romanians! There are none of the 10 urgent measures that I sent to the PM designate. They do not increase at all the minimum wage, not even with the 8% promised by Cîţu after seeing the unions and employers, the child allowances do not increase at all, not even with the only 20% tranche that Vîlceanu announced a few days ago for January 2022. No pension rises at all, not even with the tiny 6% that Turcan proudly announced. Instead, they introduce new taxes for Romanians in the Diaspora. Exactly those taxes eliminated by PSD when he was in government! “, wrote Ciolacu, on Facebook.
PM-designate Nicolae Ciuca admitted on Friday that the numbers are against his proposed Cabinet that is pending for the Parliament’s approval, yet added that if the line-up is however voted in on Wednesday, this can be a gain of time for parties to find common ground.
“Of course, the way the figures look right now, mathematically the government has no chance to pass. There has been quite a lot of inflexibility during negotiations and we realized that we probably cannot reach a political agreement to secure a majority to approve the government in Parliament. However, given the very complicated situation we are in today, I decided to go with the governing program and the Cabinet before Parliament, because there is still time until Wednesday. There is time for each lawmaker to reflect (…) I don’t have political experience, but I can realize that even if no political agreement is reached, by voting for this government we can gain time for political parties to discuss and find the common guidelines to render their political projects compatible,” Nicolae Ciuca said.
The Prime Minister-designate stressed that a fully-fledged government is needed to solve the crises Romania is facing.