Romania's PM-designate Tomac Faces Setback as Major Party Declines Support

With just four days left to form a government, Romania’s Prime Minister-designate and MEP Eugen Tomac faced a setback Thursday when one of the country’s major parties declined to support him.

After the country’s centrist coalition collapsed in a no-confidence vote in May, Romanian President Nicușor Dan appointed Tomac, a member of the European Parliament from the Renew Europe Group, to form a technocratic government. The prime minister-designate has a constitutionally mandated deadline of June 14 to present a government; otherwise, Dan will have to restart coalition talks or find another technocratic leader.

The country’s third-largest party, the National Liberal Party, told reporters Thursday that this solution lacked the political support needed to push through necessary reforms, and declined to support it.

The technocratic government is “a front formula to exempt the Social Democratic Party from the responsibility it has for the situation it has reached,” party leader Ilie Bolojan said. The Social Democratic Party initiated the May no-confidence vote, teaming up with the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians.

Now, Tomac faces a difficult path to form a government before the June 14 deadline. Romanian media report that Dan is considering re-forming the collapsed coalition if Tomac fails, but a political breakthrough looks far away.

“Today, the stake is not who gives lessons to whom. The stake is whether we manage to break the deadlock and offer the country a functional government, stability and a clear direction,” Tomac said in response to the National Liberal Party’s decision on Thursday.

The country remains locked in political turmoil as it tackles the highest budget deficit in the European Union. If the country does not complete key reforms by August, it risks losing out on around €11 billion in EU funding, and if public finances aren’t brought under control soon, analysts worry a credit rating downgrade could follow soon afterward.

Tomac has vowed not to form a government with insurgent far-right party Alliance for the Union of Romanians. The Romanian Social Democrats’ decision to team up with the far right to topple the government in May was met with consternation from many in Brussels who saw it as a breach of the cordon sanitaire.

“The country’s interest must take precedence,” Dan said on Wednesday about the technocratic government. “My mandate is, firstly, to maintain Romania’s pro-Western direction and, secondly, to prevent a possible economic collapse.”

If no new government is formed after 60 days and two failed investitures, Romania’s constitution allows Dan to call for new elections. But given that polls suggest a massive lead for the far-right Alliance party, it’s a path he’s unlikely to want to take.