Prime Minister-designate Nicolae Ciuca has begun negotiations

RADIO ROMANIA NEWS - Prime Minister-designate Nicolae Ciuca has begun discussions with parliamentary party leaders to persuade them to support the government formula he will propose.

The first meeting took place with leader of the The Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR), with whom the National Liberal Party (PNL) intends to form a new cabinet.

Liberal leader Florin Citu also attended the meeting, announcing that the PNL-UDMR governing program will be submitted to Parliament early next week.

Florin Citu: On Monday evening and Tuesday we will come to the parliament and I think that the commissions will have their turn on Wednesday, and the vote will follow on Thursday. First we make the government program, tomorrow, and we assure you that it is a government program that responds to the needs and emergencies that Romania is going through today: health, energy. We will discuss the portfolios in the coming days. Negotiation is the responsibility of the prime minister, who will negotiate with parliamentarians in order to get a majority vote. For support in Parliament I think there will also be talks with the Save Romania Union (USR). There is no pact with the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

UDMR President Kelemen Hunor was optimistic after the discussions.

Kelemen Hunor: We first discussed whether we can continue governing together and the answer was yes, after which we discussed the governing program, in order to complete it. Tomorrow the teams will meet and we will complete the governing program over the weekend. We will also discuss the structure of the new government after the program is ready, because if we can agree on the government program, the structure of the government and the portfolios, we will one hundred percent be on the same page.

Translated by: Radu Matei