Romanian President Iohannis calls parties for consultations but seeks minority cabinet

President Klaus Iohannis invited the political parties to hold the first round of individual consultations starting October 11 at noon. "We don't know if the first round will result in a solution, but I am determined to find one," he stated.

His further statements hint in the opposite direction, though: that of further fueling tensions instead of facilitating a broad coalition that seems at this moment to be the only way out of the crisis.

After he failed to force USR to return under his terms within the ruling coalition, President Klaus Iohannis may fail again to negotiate a deal with the Social Democrats to buy some stability for a minority cabinet of prime minister Florin Citu. At this moment, this seems to be the sole plausible plan President Iohannis may have (if any) for putting an end to the political crisis.

President Iohannis implied that any cooperation with reformist USR is out of the question. He made clear that the parties of the former centre-right coalition USR-PNL-UDMR can not be brought together "as if nothing happened, because it did."

About what happened, there is more than one version. In the President's opinion, "USR, which pretended to be a prominent reformist party, has abandoned the Government for reasons only they know, which was not good. But it was not enough for USR, it allied with PSD and AUR, and they overthrew the Government." According to others, President Iohannis can no longer trust USR because USR minister Stelian Ion refused to pass to the Presidency the power to appoint head prosecutors. But what actually matters is what will be the President's step after (if) the Social Democrats indeed refuse hidden deals.

President Iohannis also made clear early elections is not an option, which further narrows his room of manoeuvre, according to Agerpres.

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)