Romanian Liberal leader Citu sees himself as next PM-designate

Liberal Party (PNL) president Florin Citu told the party leadership on Friday, October 29, that he should be the next prime minister-designate if the Nicolae Ciuca Cabinet does not pass the Parliament vote, Adevarul daily reported quoting sources familiar with the discussions.

"The next candidate should be the president of the party, that's obvious," Citu said in the meeting of the Executive Bureau (BEx), according to the sources.

The Liberals chose to go to the Parliament on the variant of a minority Government, formed together with the ethnic Hungarians party UDMR, despite the fact that the other major parliamentary parties, the Social Democrat PSD and reformist USR, announced that they would not support such a Government.

At this moment, the would-be Ciuca Cabinet enjoys less than 130 votes from the Liberals MPs, given that the Liberals close to Ludovic Orban, who announced their resignations from the party's parliamentary groups, may not support PM-designate Nicolae Ciuca. They are backed by 29 UDMR MPs, which means that to reach the number of votes needed for the investiture (234), the Liberals need the support of other parliamentary parties.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)