Romania: PM-designate Niculescu won't give up, puts small pensions first
Luca Niculescu is pressing on with talks to form a government despite resistance. His programme would help people on small pensions first. He needs at least 233 votes in parliament.
Archive image · Photo: Razvan Socol / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Romania's prime minister-designate Luca Niculescu said he will not hand back his mandate despite difficult talks with the parties. "When I accept a challenge, it is to the end," Niculescu told Digi24 on Friday evening. He said he was not considering any plan other than continuing talks to form a cabinet. A day earlier, Niculescu had said he would consider returning the mandate depending on how negotiations went.
On Saturday he wrote on Facebook that the government programme was being finalised. It will seek ways to raise incomes, "with priority for pensioners with small pensions," and fiscal consolidation should be accompanied by solidarity and support measures. The new government would also resume talks on a unified public-sector pay law. According to Adevărul, he is also proposing an urgent budget revision and a cautious pension indexation if the budget allows.
The parliamentary arithmetic remains complicated. The Social Democrats (PSD) want to restore their coalition with the Liberals (PNL) and the Hungarian alliance UDMR, but the PNL refuses. According to ProTV, one option is a PSD-only government that the PNL and UDMR vote into office before moving into opposition; in another, the cabinet could depend on the 13 votes of SOS România. At least 233 votes are needed, and the programme and list of ministers must be submitted by Thursday.