Update: President calls 18 representatives to talks; rock star decides to go

Romanians have sent 5,520 messages to the email address consultari@presidency.ro, which was set up yesterday to gather the people’s nominations of the persons they found best suited to represent them at the public consultations with President Klaus Iohannis. As over 60,000 people went to the streets in Bucharest and elsewhere in Romania on Wednesday, the same day that Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned, President Iohannis decided on Thursday to also call the protesters’ representatives and the so-called civil society’s representatives to the consultations he holds at Cotroceni before naming a new Prime Minister. This is a first for Romania, as until now the President would only consult with the leaders of the political parties represented in the Parliament. Some were skeptical about the President’s proposal and asked him to come to the University square instead, as people continued to rally on Thursday evening. However, many of the protesters have taken the President’s call as serious and started submitting nominations. The President’s team has had the difficult task of going through the 5,500 emails, many of them containing more than one nomination, and selecting only a few (their exact number hasn’t been revealed) for the formal talks. The consultations are scheduled to take place at 13:30. The list of representatives curated by the Presidency has yet to be announced. However, on Facebook, several people have been mentioned more often these days, most of them being well-known public personalities in Romania. Among them are Adrian Despot, the lead singer of local rock band Vita de Vie, singer Tudor Chirila, a juror at the Voice of Romania competition, Moise Guran the producer and host of a popular financial TV show (BiziDay), Andi Moisescu, a TV star and juror at Romania’s Got Talent, and Nicusor Dan, a NGO leader fighting for preserving Bucharest’s architecture. Some popular Facebook characters are also on the list. Not all of them are keen on taking part in this experiment. Rock Star Adrian Despot, who was injured and lost many friends in the Colectiv club fire, said he didn’t want to become a people’s representative as he didn’t have the necessary skills for that. “I thank you for your support and for trusting me. I understand your anger and desire for change. I too am sick of improvisation. My participation as your representative at these consultations would be just another improvisation. I have neither the training nor the necessary skills for that,” Despot wrote in a Facebook post. “We are all discontent with the lack of professionalism that the political class and most of the public clerks have shown. Let’s not make the mistake of replacing a bunch of incompetents with another bunch of incompetents,” Despot concluded. Update 13:30 - The President called 18 representatives of the civil society to consultations at the Cotroceni Palace. Among them are several public figures, NGO leaders, as well as students' representatives. Rock star Adrian Despot decided to honor the invitation and attend the talks. "I've been invited to Cotroceni Palace by President Iohannis. I still believe that I'm not the right person, but, in spirit of respect to democracy and its symbols, I have decided to go," Despot wrote.