Romania’s former PM Ludovic Orban reportedly wants another term

Former prime minister Ludovic Orban, the leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL), reportedly informed his would-be ruling partners, the reformist block USR-PlUS and UDMR leaders, in a private meeting, that he aims to get another term, for which he needs the support of all the three parties in the coalition.

Orban also seeks the support of the MPs representing the ethnic minorities, who hold some 5.5% seats in the Chamber of Deputies that would push the coalition's position toward a much safer region - yet not much above 55%.

According to G4Media.ro sources, Orban's partners asked for time to consult with their parties.

Separately, Orban was expected to inform his party about his decision to get one more term as a prime minister.

Last week, the Liberals decided to support finance minister Florin Citu for prime minister. However, the coalition partiesfailed to reach an agreementon supporting Citu's nomination due to disagreements on who would lead the Parliament's chambers. More precisely, Orban asked the Chamber of Deputies speaker position for himself while USR-PLUS co-president Dan Barna also targeted this seat. USR-PLUS argued that the Liberals shouldn't get all the top seats in the Government and Parliament.

On Tuesday morning, Dan Barna proposed that the coalition parties' three leaders should all be part of the Government as deputy prime ministers. He also proposed that USR-PLUS MP Catalin Drula should get the leading position in the Chamber of Deputies.

Barna's scenario with three deputy prime ministers was not received well by the other two partners in the coalition. Both the PNL and UDMR leaders criticized Barna for floating this scenario before discussing it with the would-be ruling partners.

(Photo source: Gov.ro)