To the surprise of many, President Klaus Iohannis on Monday tasked Dacian Cioloș (USR) with forming a new government. According to some pundits, Cioloș’s nomination seemed purely a formality, a proposal made by the President only to return later again to the Cîțu variant or another PNL leader.

Cioloș — who served as prime minister after the Colectiv disaster between November 2015 and January 2017 and is currently leader of the “Renew” group in the European Parliament — went to work and invited representatives of the liberal PNL, Democratic Alliance of Hungarians (UDMR) and minorities to talks for the formation of a government on Tuesday. However, negotiations between Cioloș, Cîțu (PNL) and Kelemen (UDMR) failed on Wednesday after which caretaker PM Florin Cîțu announced it was now the responsibility of USR, AUR and PSD to form a coalition.

Cioloș admitted that his first meeting with the leaders of the PNL and UDMR was a failure, but he announced another round of negotiations for Friday, October 15. Yet this meeting was cancelled after Cîțu announced again that the reformist USR must seek support from the social democratic PSD and nationalist AUR.

Late on Friday, Cioloș said he regretted that the PNL will not take responsibility to govern. He announced that USR will form a minority government, after the PNL decided not to support it, G4Media reported. Cioloș also said that USR will decide on Sunday the composition and programme of a new government. He did not explain how he will ensure a majority in Parliament, given that he needs 234 votes whereas USR only has eighty MPs.