On Thursday, President Klaus Iohannis appointed reserve general Nicolae Ciucă (PNL) as Prime Minister-designate, after Dacian Cioloș did not get sufficient votes in Parliament for his minority USR cabinet. The head of state was satisfied that “the PNL came up with a new approach”. In his turn, Nicolae Ciucă declared that he will negotiate “with all the responsible forces”, so that a government will be formed and approved by Parliament soonest.

Ciucă has already reached out to the PSD for support in forming a government and PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu agreed to meet. Political sources close to the main parties say that we are heading for a PNL-UDMR minority government, supported in parliament by the social democratic PSD. Hence, the USR would go into the opposition and the PNL, together with Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), will most likely govern with the parliamentary support of the PSD.

If such PNL-UDMR minority government, supported by PSD, is formed, we will have a weak executive. “We are witnessing events that are against any reasonable political logic”, political scientist Cristian Pîrvulescu told RFI. “A minority government is in fact limited in its power of initiative. The Liberals are trying to have relative control over the government, but it is becoming much more dependent on political support in Parliament and the negotiations there. Mr. Ciucă has no experience as a politician, so he will not be able to carry out these negotiations”, says Pîrvulescu.

A coalition government based on a parliamentary majority would be a better and reasonable option — especially given the health crisis, for which a strong government is needed to take the necessary measures.