Romanian prime minister Marcel Ciolacu announced Thursday, December 19, that the Social Democratic Party (PSD) is withdrawing from discussions to form a new government but will support a right-wing cabinet in Parliament. In a statement posted on Facebook, he criticized the behavior of coalition partners, without naming a specific party, accusing them of inconsistency and disrespect during negotiations.

"Let me be clear! Both I and the party I lead fully understand the vote of the Romanian people! It was a vote of no confidence in a political class more concerned with sterile arguments and vendettas than with the lives of Romanians! That is precisely why we felt obligated to put the past aside, to move beyond the broken promises of our coalition partners, and to try to move forward together, to provide this country with a stable and functional government as quickly as possible!" Ciolacu said in a post on social media. 

He further stated that "being aware of the severe situation in Romania," PSD initiated efforts to form a broader coalition of all pro-European parties. The alliance, which was set to include PSD, the Liberals (PNL), USR, UDMR, and the minorities, was announced after the Parliamentary elections of December 1 and was meant to leave out far-right parties and pave the way for a new government.

"Unfortunately, you cannot build anything lasting with partners who are incapable of overcoming their own egos and ideological clichés and who behave as if they were still in the election campaign that brought us to this point. You cannot establish anything concrete with people who say one thing in private and another in front of the press. You cannot achieve anything with so-called partners who feel "disgusted" to sit at the table with you and believe that doing so somehow "taints" them," Marcel Ciolacu said.

He added, "PSD has endured such attitudes long enough, without commenting or behaving as others have. This way of working is entirely counterproductive in the eyes of the people. Therefore, PSD withdraws with dignity from the negotiation table, but we do not shirk our responsibilities. We will vote in Parliament for a right-wing government! We are doing this because this country urgently needs a government to handle current issues until the upcoming presidential elections."

Ciolacu's post seems to suggest that PSD may back a minority government, either PNL or PNL and USR, but only until the upcoming presidential elections, Biziday.ro commented.

Marcel Ciolacu's announcement comes a day after the leaders of the pro-European parties in Romania had agreed that the future prime minister would be nominated by PSD. The reason why PNL, UDMR, and the minorities accepted this arrangement is that PSD achieved the highest score in the parliamentary elections on December 1, sources close to the negotiations told Hotnews.ro.

Also on Wednesday, USR, which has been rather unhappy with how the government negotiations unfold, outlined a list of eight demands for the future coalition. One of these demands is for all coalition parties to call for president Klaus Iohannis's resignation at the end of his term on December 21.

Following the cancelation of the presidential elections by the Constitutional Court, president Iohannis said he would remain in office until his successor is sworn in. The future government is to decide the new dates of the presidential elections.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)