Romania’s Prime Minister-designate Adrian Veştea announced in the evening of June 17 that he would present a cabinet composed of representatives of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL) and technocrats, while following the governing programme of interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan “down to the smallest detail”.

Romania has had a caretaker government since Bolojan was ousted by a no-confidence motion after the Social Democrats withdrew from the ruling coalition and joined the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) in voting against him.

Veştea, a member of the PNL which has not yet secured the backing of his own party, said his government would be backed by “all those who are acting in good faith” — without explicitly excluding support from AUR, according to News.ro.

Veştea pledged to continue the programme promoted by Bolojan and to preserve the governing strategy agreed last June by the former four-party coalition. He said he intended to retain Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare, although Nazare has not confirmed his willingness to join a Veştea cabinet.

“It is the same government programme and I do not think it is necessary to come up with special measures in the middle of a fiscal year … I will target the same budget deficit [6.2% of GDP]. For this reason, I intend to keep the current Minister of Finance; I discussed this with Mr. Nazare,” Veştea said, adding that he was awaiting the minister’s answer.

However, securing the PSD’s support would almost certainly require freezing the reform agenda that formed the core of the governing strategy and was one of the main reasons behind the May 5 no-confidence motion initiated by the PSD and AUR.

Veştea also said that some of the technocrats recruited by President Nicusur Dan’s initial nominee for the prime minister position, Eugen Tomac, remained on the list of proposed ministers.

“The decision I made is to form a political government, exactly as I said, a government that includes the National Liberal Party, the Social Democratic Party and representatives from the technocratic area. Some of them may also have been on Eugen Tomac's list,” Veştea said on Romania TV.

With both the governing programme and much of the cabinet inherited from his predecessors, Veştea’s main challenge remains obtaining a parliamentary majority — an increasingly difficult task.

Veştea became the second nominee for prime minister after Dan unexpectedly appointed him on June 14, following Tomac’s failure to secure parliamentary backing. The nomination quickly ran into trouble. Reformist Union Save Romania (USR) rejected cooperation with him within hours, while PNL leader Bolojan denounced the move as “a hostile action” by Dan. On June 16, the ethnic Hungarian party UDMR advised its MPs not to support Veştea, citing uncertainty over the composition of his parliamentary majority (supposedly including far-right MPs).

After the PNL formally urged him to withdraw and UDMR distanced itself from his candidacy, the prospects of securing parliamentary approval deteriorated sharply.

According to Digi24, the PNL, USR and UDMR are already discussing alternative scenarios in case Veştea fails. The three parties are expected to propose either entrusting PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu with forming a majority, or supporting a minority cabinet formed by the PNL, USR and UDMR, operating on a negotiated mandate until key national priorities are addressed.

The parties that have already declared they will not support Veştea — AUR, the PNL, USR and UDMR — control 256 seats in parliament, although this number includes dissident Liberal MPs who appear ready to break party discipline. Former PNL president Ludovic Orban estimated their number at fewer than 14 (of a total of 76 Liberal MPs), while earlier estimates reached as high as 31. Veştea claims support is broader.

In turn, the parties backing Vestea – the PSD essentially, plus small entities, ethnic minorities and independent MPs – hold only 193 seats in parliament. Vestea thus needs 40 Liberal MPs, plus some more to offset those under loose control (ethnic minorities, possibly small far-right parties).

Citing Dan’s backing, Veştea and the PSD have widened their efforts to include MPs from smaller groups, representatives of national minorities and politicians originating from various far-right formations.

After a day of negotiations, Veştea confirmed that he had consulted with Dan and that the head of state encouraged him to continue.

“He did not give me the impression that he would not support me all the way. On the contrary, he advised me to remain involved, because, through the appeal we make to all those who are in parliament today and want to show responsibility and overcome certain arrogance or rules imposed by party leaders, I expect them to vote for this government,” Veştea told Digi24.

Asked about possible support from AUR and whether Dan had made any recommendations in this regard (the president earlier said this would be a red line), Veştea said he had not yet held talks with the party’s representatives but stressed that he remained open to all parliamentary forces.

“I am waiting for all those who are acting in good faith. I do not mind the fact that there will be AUR parliamentarians who show patriotism and understand that this is an important moment when we must leave pride aside and stop treating things as they have been treated until now, by discriminating, isolating ourselves and positioning ourselves in one way or another,” Veştea said.

Romanian Parliament structure	MPs
PSD	127
AUR	90
PNL	76
USR	59
UDMR	31
Minorities	17
SOS Romania	15
United for Romania	15
PACE Romania First	11
Independents	23
TOTAL	464
50%+1	233
AUR+PNL+USR+UDMR	256
PSD+UfR+PACE+Min.+Indep.	193
SOS Romania	15
source: bne IntelliNews