The designated PM starts consultations today for a new government - Top News - HotNews.ro

PSD leader Mircea Geoana announced on Sunday that the four parties - PSD, PNL, UDMR and the national minorities - do not support Croitoru. They will propose the named PM to hold a common meeting on Tuesday, at the Parliament's Palace, "out of politeness".

"It is much clearer that he is being used as a rabbit by Mr. Basescu and that he does not stand any chance to find Romania's Parliament support", Geoana opinionated on Croitoru.

PNL, PSD, UDMR and the national minorities announced that they will back the mayor of Sibiu - Klaus Johannis - for the premiership, but the proposal was rejected by President Traian Basescu. The chief of state announced that he designated Lucian Croitoru to form the new Government.   

Background. The one pulling all the strings in Romania is popular President Traian Băsescu, who is soon up for re-election. A week ago, he engineered a collapse of the governing grand coalition of his [right-wing] liberal democrats (PDL) and the (post-commie) Soc-Dems (PSD).

Băsescu had free hand in deciding the PM's fate, but went for accepting the no-confidence and choosing a new candidate for PM. The upcoming parliamentary vote on the candidate gives him multiple options to keep control of the government: the Romanian tradition of splitting off individual MPs from other parties, or calling new elections.

But PSD and the former main opposition parties (national-liberals [PNL] and Hungarian minority party [RMDSz-UDMR]) unexpectedly found a common line, and that rather quickly, and stick to it: that ethnic German mayor from a city in Transsylvania, whose person shall secure the votes of the smaller minority representatives too.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}