Romania's PM-designate Muresan seeks three-party coalition

Romania's prime minister-designate, Siegfried Muresan, said on Friday that he will attempt to build a government with three political parties and aims to present a cabinet early next week, even though the grouping would fall short of a parliamentary majority.

Speaking at the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest, the 44-year-old member of the European Parliament and of the centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL) said he would start work at once on a governing programme he described as pro-European and forward-looking. He added that he would draft the programme with colleagues from the three parties.

Muresan named the PNL, the Save Romania Union (USR) and the small ethnic Hungarian UDMR party as his intended partners. He has 10 days to put a cabinet before Parliament.

President Nicusor Dan nominated Muresan on Thursday after he drew the most support from political parties during consultations. Dan had made two nominations in June, following a no-confidence vote that removed Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan in May.

Muresan said Romania needs a serious and credible government, one that continues the reforms, projects and programmes begun over the past year.

USR leader Dominic Fritz told the press conference that a government led by Muresan would strengthen public confidence in Romania and that the three parties would seek to form a serious and coherent administration.

Political consultant Cristian Andrei, based in Bucharest, said a Muresan cabinet has virtually no chance of passing unless members of Parliament want to avoid an early election. Under Romanian rules, the president can dissolve Parliament if it rejects two cabinet proposals within 60 days of the first rejection, a step that can trigger an election.

Muresan has been a European lawmaker since 2014 and serves as a vice chair of the European People's Party group in the European Parliament.

The previous coalition took office in June 2025 with a priority of reducing the budget deficit, but Bolojan frequently clashed with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) over austerity measures. He was sworn in with the aim of ending one of Romania's worst political crises since the fall of communism, but was ousted after a motion filed by the PSD, then a coalition partner, and the nationalist opposition Alliance for the Unity of Romanians. He has remained prime minister in an interim capacity since.

PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu opposed Muresan's nomination and said he would meet his party's leadership to analyse the proposal.