Romania's Prime Minister-designate Siegfried Mureșan plans to form a minority government made up primarily of ministers from the National Liberal Party (PNL), Save Romania Union (USR) and Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), and to seek parliament's approval despite the three parties not currently having the 233 votes required for investiture.

The presidency confirmed on September 21 that the decree appointing Mureșan as prime minister-designate had been published. Under the constitutional timetable, he must seek a parliament vote within 10 days of the designation, meaning no later than October 1.

Mureșan said his immediate priority was to finalise the governing programme with the three parties supporting his nomination before selecting ministers. He said appointments would be based on competence rather than the distribution of government positions.

“I am not forming this government to find jobs for some people, but I am forming this government to do good things for Romania. First, we must decide with the three parties that support me what the final version of the governing programme is, and then we will take the best, most competent colleagues to implement this government,” Mureșan told RFI.

“There will be a minority PNL-USR-UDMR government with a reformist agenda. These three parties assume responsibility for governing and will be represented in the cabinet of ministers,” he added.

Mureșan said separately that he intended to present the main elements of the programme to the supporting parties, then to parliamentary representatives of national minorities and subsequently to the Social Democratic Party (PSD), in an effort to secure the additional votes required.

PSD leaves door open to talks

PSD president Sorin Grindeanu said on September 21 that his party was prepared to discuss the proposed governing programme with Mureșan, but only if the prime minister-designate was willing to consider the 10 national priorities adopted by the Social Democrats at a meeting in Sinaia on August 31.

The PSD has maintained that it will not vote for a government that simply continues the economic policies of the administration led by former prime minister Ilie Bolojan. Grindeanu said Mureșan's stated intention to continue the work of the previous government had not changed the party's position.

“If he wants to hold discussions, let him tell us how he can include in the governing programme the 10 recommendations that we voted for, the Sinaia Decalogue. I have not heard anything from Mr. Mureșan, since he was nominated until now, that he will even take into account the PSD proposals,” Grindeanu said, cited by Digi24.

The PSD's “Agreement on Ten National Priorities” calls for the parties to establish what it describes as a “social majority before a parliamentary majority”, arguing that the political crisis reflects the lack of agreement on a common set of national objectives.

The agreement sets constitutional, European and Euro-Atlantic orientation as a condition for participation in the proposed political agreement. The proposals also include provisions for resolving disputes between signatories through notification, evaluation and a remedial period.

Among its most radical proposals is a mechanism linking the minimum wage to productivity, the median wage and the cost of living. The document also proposes individual retraining accounts.  

The PSD's position leaves open the possibility of negotiations over the governing programme, although Grindeanu has said the party's participation in government and a change in economic policy remain important conditions. The Social Democrats withdrew from the governing coalition at the end of April, citing disagreements with Bolojan's policies, while subsequently joining the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) in a no-confidence motion against the government.

Mureșan, meanwhile, has linked his economic programme to the continuation of fiscal consolidation while arguing that tax and spending relief should resume once Romania has sufficient fiscal space.

Mureșan promises tax relief 

Mureșan said on September 21 that his objective was to restore the standard VAT rate to 19%, from the current 21%, once fiscal conditions allow it. He also said he wanted to resume the indexation of public-sector wages and pensions as soon as Romania could afford the additional expenditure without abandoning fiscal consolidation.

“The situation we have today, after the measures taken by the Bolojan government, is better than the one he found [after the parliamentary elections in December 2024]. Romania's economy is more solid, and we do not need new tax, excise duty or VAT increases. We must continue to streamline state spending, cut waste, and, as the budgetary situation allows us, discuss fiscal relaxation. In the case of VAT, I said very clearly: the objective must be to return to 19% as soon as we can afford it,” Mureșan told Pro TV.

“I cannot promise that there will be tax cuts overnight, but as soon as possible, we will do so. An indexation of pensions, an indexation of salaries [in the budgetary sector], of course it is desirable as soon as we have [fiscal] space,” he added.

The comments combine Mureșan's commitment to continuing the fiscal consolidation measures implemented under Bolojan with a stated intention to ease taxation and restore indexation when fiscal conditions permit. Grindeanu has cited Mureșan's commitment to the existing economic policies as one reason for the PSD's reluctance to support the proposed cabinet.

UDMR questions minority strategy

UDMR president Kelemen Hunor has questioned whether the three-party group should proceed to an investiture vote without first securing a firm parliamentary majority.

Kelemen said on September 21 that what remained of the former governing coalition did not currently have the 233 votes needed for investiture. He said UDMR would continue discussions with PNL and USR before deciding whether to maintain its support for Mureșan's nomination.

“If the prime minister-designate decides to go forward with his cabinet and ask Parliament for a vote before securing a firm majority, we will have to discuss and make a decision,” Kelemen said cited by Digi24.

He indicated that if negotiations failed to produce 233 votes, UDMR could face a choice between supporting a cabinet that had only around 160-170 votes and asking Mureșan to return his mandate rather than prolonging the political crisis.

“I don't like coming to parliament just to lose, just to have fewer votes than the government needs for investiture,” Kelemen said. He added that UDMR wanted to examine the governing programme and identify the key points that could be presented to the parliamentary committees and subsequently to parliament.

The UDMR's reluctance to allow Mureșan to proceed towards a clearly losing parliamentary vote can also be viewed in the context of the party's preference for avoiding early elections. The party's electoral support has remained close to the parliamentary entry threshold, making another election a potentially significant political risk.