Grindeanu accuses Bolojan of already campaigning for the presidential elections

Sorin Grindeanu, the president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), claims that the current leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL), Ilie Bolojan, has already started his campaign for the 2030 presidential elections, and this political calculation is the basis for the blockages in the governing coalition. The statements were made in a TV intervention, where the social-democratic leader stated that the current tensions in the coalition are generated exclusively by Ilie Bolojan's political strategy.

• "The blockage has only one person responsible"

"At the moment, things are blocked because of only one man - Ilie Bolojan," said Sorin Grindeanu. According to the PSD leader, the PNL president would aim to build two large political blocs in Romania: a progressive one, formed around the PNL and the Save Romania Union (USR), and a sovereignist one, which would lead to the diminishing of the role of the center-left and center-right parties, including the PSD. "It is a political calculation. We entered this coalition in good faith and we came trying to correct some mistakes made in past governments," Grindeanu said.

• PSD accuses of being treated as a "punching bag"

The social-democratic leader stated that the PSD was viewed in the coalition in two ways: as a target for criticism regarding the "heavy legacy" of the government and, at the same time, as a reservoir of votes when parliamentary support was needed. "We were asked to sit quietly in a corner, show our handkerchiefs, with our nails trimmed,” Grindeanu said, suggesting that the coalition partners wanted a marginal political role for the PSD. Sorin Grindeanu claims that the current liberal leader is mainly concerned with the prospect of a candidacy in the 2030 presidential elections. "Mr. Ilie Bolojan is in a presidential campaign. This is what he does, this is what he aims for. He is interested in 2030,” the PSD leader said. He said that Bolojan would have wanted to run in the previous presidential elections as well, but would not have managed to obtain the necessary political support. "Until the last moment, he wanted to run. He could not run because he did not have support,” Grindeanu claimed.

• Motion of censure, "a catalyst”

The PSD president believes that the filing of the motion of censure and the political events of recent weeks have accelerated the clarification of political strategies within the coalition. "The fact that we made this move was like a catalyst and brought these political movements into discussion more quickly,” Grindeanu explained.

The PSD leader's statements highlight the tensions between the social democrats and liberals, in a political context marked by strategic divergences and speculation regarding repositioning for the next electoral cycle. Sorin Grindeanu's statements suggest that the stakes of the current disputes go beyond the management of the government and already concern the competition for the 2030 presidential elections, in which Ilie Bolojan is perceived by PSD leaders as a potential candidate for the Cotroceni Palace.

PNL leader Ilie Bolojan declared after the consultations at Cotroceni with President Nicuşor Dan, for the nomination of the prime minister, that PNL will no longer support and will no longer participate in a Government in which PSD will be present, including in the situation where the Government would be led by a technocratic prime minister. He specified that PNL has a 15% share in Parliament. "We have completed consultations with Mr. President Nicuşor Dan, and we have specified our position. We are after a motion of censure initiated by PSD, which, with the support of AUR, practically brought down the government of which PSD was a part. We are in a situation where PNL has a 15% share in Parliament, and in this context, PNL's position was the following, from the decisions taken previously: PNL will no longer support a government and will no longer participate in a government in which PSD will also be found. We will not support a government with a technocrat prime minister in which PSD will also be found. Given that PSD will be in government, PNL will be in opposition", was the announcement of the interim prime minister. Ilie Bolojan showed that this position is not taken out of political calculation but is taken out of a legitimate interest for our country and given this situation, if, in one form or another, direct or indirect, such a coalition with the Social Democratic Party were to continue, it would only continue the errors that were in the past.