USR's Fritz rejects technocratic PM, rotational prime ministership

Newly-elected national leader of the Save Romania Union (USR) Dominic Fritz on Friday rejected the idea of a technocrat prime minister or rotational prime ministership for the future government, reiterating his support for the nomination of the National Liberal Party's (PNL) Ilie Bolojan for prime minister.

"He must be a credible person to Romanians. He must be a person with a political authority and who can convince Romanians that we will now go through a difficult period precisely to become a strong and prosperous country again. If the Social Democratic Party (PSD) has a candidate who meets this profile, it must say PSD. (...) USR votes for a credible prime minister, with authority and the ability to convince the citizens of Romania that the Romanian state has understood the message of the citizens. That is the profile. At the moment, the only one I see meeting this profile is Ilie Bolojan," Fritz told a news conference at the USR headquarters.

In his opinion, at this moment, it would not be appropriate to appoint a technocrat prime minister, because it is necessary to politically own the "heavy" measures that must be adopted.

"It can only be a prime minister who has authority, credibility through his own results. If we now find only one notary of the parties and, somehow, the lowest denominator, then I don't think we can generate enough strength and authority that will be needed to make these difficult cuts."

According to Fritz, the fact that negotiations are taking longer is not a "bad sign." Discussions cover concrete measures within the future governing agenda, the USR leader said.

"It is not something that should worry us that some negotiations for a government last three weeks, especially because it is obvious that there are some partners at the table who, yes, have different visions, have a different history. (...) We must work on this consensus, to make sure that we do not make a government under duress. In other countries, too, where there are stable democracies it takes time, and I think we need to have a stable government."

Fritz rejected the idea that the entire "burden" of the deficit should be borne by tax increases by the private sector and by working Romanians. The responsibility of the Romanian state is, first of all, to cut spending.

"That is the first reason why there is still no consensus in the negotiations. The second reason is that PSD and PNL have different visions of who should be the prime minister and what the conditions for this prime minister should be. We support Ilie Bolojan for prime minister."

The USR leader rejected the scenario of a PNL-USR merger, saying that there were no discussions within the party on this subject.

"We are a strong parliamentary party, with a result almost as good as PNL. We believe in a collaboration on the right side. We are working on this collaboration. That is why I have suggested Ilie Bolojan. But, I don't think that the answer to all the upheaval that Romania has seen in recent months is to invent again all kinds of political projects that do not necessarily meet expectations. I think that Romanians expect to be a clearly liberal party, with a reformist agenda, with people who have not led Romania for 30 years. And I believe that USR is that party," the USR leader said.