Romania’s president is optimistic about pro-European coalition.

Bucharest (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Romania’s President Iohannis is optimistic about forming a pro-European coalition government.

The departing President of Romania Klaus Iohannis stated on 22 Dec 2024 that he was “optimistic” he would soon appoint a prime minister from a pro-European ruling majority after the governing Social Democrats returned to bloc discussions.

Talks continue today and I am hopeful that I will be in a position to appoint a prime minister after parliament votes the leaders of its two chambers,

Iohannis stated.

“The PNL, PSD, UDMR, and minorities have notified me that negotiations to discover a solid administration equation are about to end,” Iohannis stated after talks with political parties. Iohannis’ period expired on Dec. 21, but he will remain on until his successor is selected.

The three ultranationalist groups refused to attend the discussions.

What led to Romania’s election controversy and court ruling?

A few days earlier, Romania’s parliament descended into disarray when a non-popular far-right pro-Russian politician succeeded the first presidential contest on Nov. 24, spurring Romania’s top court to reject it on scepticism of Russian interference. A re-conduct of the election is likely in the first Q of 2025. The governing Social Democrat Party (PSD) succeeded in the most votes in a Dec. 1 parliamentary ballot in which three ultranationalist and hard-right parties, succeeded in more than a third of the seats.

What challenges face Romania’s pro-European coalition talks?

The centre-right Liberals, PSD, the ethnic Hungarian party UDMR, the centrist Save Romania Union (USR) and representatives of ethnic minorities arranged to bargain a coalition administration to hold the far right at bay but fought over measures required to relieve Romania’s budget insufficiency, the European Union’s biggest. The PSD suddenly withdrew from coalition discussions in a move some analysts expressed was a ploy to speed up talks. It has since rejoined discussions without the USR which will join the opposition side.