It's a shame that the internet is a virtual medium, because there are a lot of people out there that I'd like to express my deep feelings of friendship to, and having spent the last two years here in Serbia, I'd like to do it in a truly Serbian way.
Romania Begins More Consultations on PM
Bucharest | 05 November 2009 |
Romanian President Traian Basescu on Thursday began consultations with political parties to nominate a prime minister after opposition parties rejected Lucian Croitoru for premier.
The Parliament on Wednesday rejected Croitoru's proposed cabinet line-up with 250 votes in favour, and 189 against. He needed 236 votes to be approved.
Croitoru was nominated in October by centrist President Traian Basescu, following the collapse of former Prime Minister Emil Boc's minority centre-right government in October.
Basescu on Thursday said he would support a right-wing government, led by a representative of his backers from the Democratic Liberal Party, PLD, and supported by opposition Liberal Party, PNL.
But Liberal leaders stated that they will continue to support their candidate, namely mayor of Transylvanian city of Sibiu, Klaus Johannis. Johannis's nomination is also supported by Social Democratic Party, PSD, and ethnic Hungarian UMDR, all opposition parties holding around 65 per cent of parliamentary seats.
But it is most unlikely a stable cabinet can be formed before the first round of presidential elections on 22 November.
The current political crisis comes as Romania implements an economic package designed to cut back government spending and reign in the deficit. Implementation of the package is necessary in order for Romania to receive the next tranches of an IMF loan, part of a multilateral package which will total up to 20 billion euros.
