Romania’s pro-European parties pledged to move quickly to form a new government to keep the far-right out of power and to call fresh presidential elections after the previous ballot was annulled by the country’s top court.
The four parties and a group of legislators from ethnic minorities said in a joint statement following talks on Tuesday that they will start work on a new programme in the next few days to focus on attracting funds from the European Union.
The parties will explore the possibility of supporting a joint candidate in presidential elections, according to the statement. The vote is unlikely before March or April next year after the new government is in place.
“We agreed that a concrete plan is needed to streamline and reduce public spending and bureaucracy,” they said in the statement.
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Romania was thrown into political turmoil following the court’s decision on Friday to cancel the result of the first round of the presidential vote amid allegations of Russian meddling and a shock victory of a little-know fringe candidate Calin Georgescu.
Already before the court’s decision, the previous two ruling parties – the Social Democrats and the Liberals – had agreed to start talks to form a ruling alliance with the reformist Save Romania Union, a party of ethnic Hungarians and a group representing minorities. The move would give them a solid majority in the next parliament.
The next government will have its work cut out for it, however. Romania is expected to have the EU’s widest budget deficit this year. – Bloomberg
