Consultations for the formation of a new government
President Dan’s official consultations with parliamentary parties to designate the prime minister begin in Bucharest on Monday.
Corina Cristea, 15.05.2026, 13:50
President Nicuşor Dan is asking parliamentary parties to hold official consultations on Monday to appoint Romania’s new prime minister, after the Bolojan government was dismissed through a no-confidence motion two weeks ago. A motion initiated by the former governing partner, the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which got allied in this endeavor with the populists from the Alliance for the Union of Romanian (AUR), an ultranationalist, self-proclaimed sovereigntist party. During the discussions, the delegations will each have one hour to present their governing options. President Nicuşor Dan has already announced that he will appoint the new prime minister only if the proposed person has support in Parliament.
The head of state reiterated, at the same time, that the current internal political crisis will be resolved “in a pro-Western direction” and in a time frame that he considers relatively short. He says that, for any of the government proposals he will receive, his question will be whether or not the proposal already has a negotiated majority. ‘As I see from the preliminary discussions and from the options that the parties have already made public, there are relatively few options for a government supported by the majority in Parliament and I will not experiment’, declared Nicușor Dan. ‘I do not think it is useful for Romania to conduct experiments in which we propose prime ministers and let them see whether or not they gather a majority’, says the head of state, who specified, regarding the option of a technocrat prime minister or a government formed by technocrats, that ‘it is a scenario that has chances’.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the parties continue to analyze options for getting out of this political crisis. The National Liberal Party (PNL) and Save Romania Union (USR), which together with the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), provide the interim governing of the country, have officially decided to coordinate their actions and position, thus becoming the largest political group in Parliament. The two parties say that they no longer want to collaborate with PSD, and the current prime minister, Ilie Bolojan, declares himself willing to accept a new nomination for the PM office, if the social democrats fail to form a future cabinet. The party has regained its self-respect, which no office or poll can buy, their leader, Ilie Bolojan, conveyed to the liberals, after the decision to no longer form an alliance with the social democrats. Despite this, there are voices in the party that continue to support the idea of remaining in government. The social democrats are holding consultations to ensure a majority in Parliament, with UDMR, the group of national minorities, and also with independent senators and deputies.
PSD Vice President Lia Olguţa Vasilescu says that the party still wants a parliamentary majority with the pro-European parties, but it remains to be seen how the negotiations will go. The UDMR Council of Representatives will establish, at the end of the week, the mandate for the meeting with the president, but the party’s first option is to restore the former governing coalition. Meanwhile, AUR declares itself ready to enter the government conditionally. Several of its MPs also say that they will support any government, regardless of its political color, if it comes with a program of measures that support the business environment, and Peace First Romania says that it will support any executive that will adopt measures for the benefit of citizens. (LS)
