Sorin Grindeanu will negotiate with Luca Niculescu to see whether he “is compatible with the PSD’s governing program” / “All my colleagues have expressed their outrage”

PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu declared after the meeting of the PSD National Permanent Bureau that he would not vote for the continuation of Bolojan-style austerity measures, but that he would negotiate with designated Prime Minister Luca Niculescu, whom he describes as “a decent person”.

At the beginning of a press conference following the NPB meeting, Sorin Grindeanu chose to accuse Nicușor Dan of “political experiments”.

“All my colleagues expressed their outrage and disappointment that, instead of making the natural decision to entrust the position of prime minister to the PSD, the president continued to conduct political experiments. I believe it has been 7 years since the right has been in power without winning a single election, yet they have been in power continuously. During this entire period, it has reached the point where almost 90 percent of Romanians say that the country is heading in the wrong direction. Under Ilie Bolojan’s mandate, the economy was destroyed. Investments have fallen dramatically,” Grindeanu said.

Grindeanu characterized the designated prime minister as “a decent, professional, balanced person who has demonstrated that he can handle difficult dossiers such as the one concerning accession to the OECD”.

Nevertheless, the Social Democrat emphasized that he does not believe “that this is enough for the Romanians whom the PSD represents”.

“We want to see whether there is a genuine desire on the part of the designated prime minister to break away from the bankrupt policies bearing the Bolojan label, or the PNL-USR label. I asked my colleagues for a broad negotiating mandate to listen to Luca Niculescu. The PSD cannot give blank-cheque votes,” Grindeanu said.

Thus, the Social Democrat leader has a mandate to determine whether the designated prime minister “is compatible with the PSD’s governing program, which his colleagues have been working on for 2-3 weeks”.

He also emphasized that the only condition imposed by the PSD is “a change of direction, not how many ministries one party or another has”.

“A stable government is a priority, as is a budget for 2027 discussed and approved this year, while respecting the deficit-reduction trajectory. (...) Under no circumstances will he vote for the continuation of Bolojan-style austerity measures repackaged in another form. This would bring us even closer to snap elections,” Grindeanu also declared, adding that Luca Niculescu has not yet contacted him for a possible discussion.

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