Prime Minister who will most likely be appointed next week needs authority (PNL's Bolojan)

The prime inister who will most likely be appointed next week needs authority and must not be "a cardboard man", the interim president of the PNL, Ilie Bolojan said on Friday.

He was asked whether he would assume the position of prime minister and implicitly the unpopular measures to reduce the budget deficit.

"I think it is right to tell the Romanians the truth, to tell them what the situation is. (...) If you do not have the authority to sanction them, whoever will be prime minister will just be a cardboard man who will not solve the problems and that is not what we need. And you also need partnerships, because these measures mean not only the Government of Romania, they mean Parliament, they mean the Presidency, they mean the other institutions, in so that you can make things change in Romania day by day," Bolojan said in a press conference held at the Palace of Parliament.

The PNL leader expressed his hope that the measures would be supported by the private and public sectors.

"I also trust in the millions of Romanians who work in the private sector, who lead this country forward, in the hundreds of thousands of professionals in the public sector who do their duty, that they understand the situation we are in and that they will support these measures, so that we can get Romania through this difficult situation and create conditions for development in the coming years," Bolojan added.

He was asked whether he agreed to be part of a rotating government.

"No variant that will be reached will be perfect, it will very likely displease some political forces or maybe even all of them. What is important is that it should be the best formula that can be found today for Romania, in such a way that we have a government with parliamentary support, with a serious program that attacks these problems, a credible government that begins to solve problem by problem, day by day, because a change cannot be made from one day to the next. (...) It is important that today we think about what we can do to understand and show Romanians that the votes that were cast at the end of last year and this spring meant a lesson for the political world. I hope we all understand this", declared Bolojan.

Asked whether he agreed with a technocrat, he replied that no option is perfect as each one has advantages and disadvantages.

"A solution will be reached. It's not long until next week," Bolojan said.