Former PM says he won’t join Save Romania Union

Former Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos announced yesterday evening on Facebook that he won’t join the Save Romania Union (USR), a young party founded by the mathematician Nicusor Dan. The former PM considers that his entry into the party would “cause division”. USR and the National Liberal Party (PNL) both announced they supported the former independent PM for a new mandate before the December 11 parliamentary elections. However, they didn’t get enough votes to make a majority in the Parliament and to name the PM. USR, however, came third in the elections, with some 9% of the votes. Ciolos said that he had reached this decision even before receiving an official invitation from Nicusor Dan to join the party. The USR leader and his powerful Bucharest organization, around which the party was built last year, didn’t want Ciolos in his party, but many organizations from around the country asked that the former PM be allowed to join USR. At the beginning of the month, Ciolos said that the NGO he plans to launch would have “political objectives,” and that its members are “seriously considering a new political project, a political movement or a political party.” The new NGO will include members of the Government led by Dacian Ciolos, and will focus on continuing some of the projects started by his cabinet, which target areas such as economic, social, education, and healthcare, the former PM said in an interview for local RFI. He added that he would still want a “close collaboration” with the National Liberal Party (PNL) and Save Romania Union (USR), the two parties that supported his platform Romania 100. Former PM registers NGO “Platform Romania 100” editor@romania-insider.com