Romanian President Nicuşor Dan said on June 26 that negotiations to form a new government had returned to a political deadlock after the National Liberal Party (PNL) stressed it would not unconditionally back a minority government led by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), according to News.ro.

The deadlock deepened on June 27 after PNL, the Save Romania Union (USR) and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) jointly nominated Liberal MEP Siegfried Mureșan for prime minister, challenging PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu's bid to head the next cabinet.

In a message published on X after consultations with the leaders of the former governing coalition, Dan said the only formula that had appeared capable of securing parliamentary support was a PSD minority government backed by the other centrist parties. This was, however, before the PNL-USR-UDMR bloc to announce their PM candidate.

"We have returned to the political deadlock that on Tuesday we thought had been overcome," the president said. "Based on the parties' positions from the consultations, there was only one formula that seemed to meet the support of a parliamentary majority: a PSD minority government."

Dan said PNL had agreed on June 23 to support such a government, subject to conditions regarding its governing programme. According to Romanian media reports, those conditions were rejected by Grindeanu, who insisted on full control over both the government and the ruling coalition's political strategy rather than accepting a broader governance protocol.

"From Tuesday until today, PNL has changed its position," Dan said, urging the parties to resume negotiations. "It is the responsibility of the parties to negotiate among themselves a majority for any government formula they consider appropriate. I continue to ask them to return to dialogue. Romania needs a government with full powers."

PNL president Ilie Bolojan rejected accusations from PSD that the Liberals had broken their commitment, arguing that the party had never offered unconditional support for a Grindeanu-led cabinet.

"We did not promise a blank cheque for Sorin Grindeanu in order to get out of the political crisis, but a political agreement based on which a decision regarding the inauguration of a government can be considered," Bolojan said.

"We did not reach an agreement," he added. "We have already burned ourselves."

On the same day, June 27, shortly before the president's statement, PNL, USR and UDMR jointly announced Siegfried Mureșan as their candidate for prime minister and proposed a rotating premiership as a compromise aimed at securing the PSD's participation in government.

"PNL, USR and UDMR put forward a joint proposal for the position of Prime Minister of Romania in the person of MEP Siegfried Mureșan. Romania needs a government that responsibly manages the country's urgent priorities (PNRR, the SAFE programme, fiscal and budgetary balance, OECD accession), continues reforms, and capitalises on every development opportunity in the interest of citizens," the three parties said in a joint statement.