USR proposes new government, but it lacks political support

Dacian Ciolos will officially present on Monday (18 October) his governing program and list of ministers, but it is unlikely that parliament will approve his cabinet.

After president Klaus Iohannis designated him to form the new government, Ciolos tried last week to reform a coalition with centre-right forces from PNL and UDMR.

But PNL leader Florin Citu, whose government was brought down by Ciolos’s USR, rejected the alliance. Instead, he sent Ciolos to discuss with his “allies” from the opposition – the socialist party PSD and far-right party AUR, who also supported the censure motion that led to the dismissal of Citu’s government about two weeks ago.

Ciolos was clear from the beginning that he only sees a coalition with PNL and UDMR, the same coalition that governed the country since the elections in December 2020, but was broken following Citu’s decision to sack a USR minister.

Since early September, USR has repeatedly said they want to continue with the same coalition but with a different prime minister.

Meanwhile, PNL elected Citu as the party’s president, and he also received the blessing of President Iohannis.

The president’s decision to designate Ciolos, a former prime minister and EU Commissioner, to form the government came as a surprise, with many political analysts saying Iohannis just wanted to humiliate the ex-chair of the Renew Europe group in the EU Parliament for USR’s “rebellion” against his protege.

It is clear from the reactions of all the other parliamentary parties that Ciolos has very slim chances to get the parliament’s vote for his government, but he continued nonetheless.

“We are determined to go until the end,” Ciolos said, adding they want citizens to regain trust in the government after the past weeks did not show the political class’ capacity to resolve the multiple crises faced by Romania.

After the PM-designate files, his list of ministers and the governing plan, parliament has 15 days to give a vote of confidence to the government.

(Bogdan Neagu | EURACTIV.ro)