Romanian President Nicușor Dan is facing growing pressure from both political allies and opponents to call early elections if his latest attempt to end five months of political paralysis fails.
A key NATO and European Union member, Romania has not had a fully functioning government since its governing coalition collapsed in May. Parliament has since rejected several candidates put forward by Dan for prime minister, according to POLITICO.
Political parties are now considering whether to support Dan’s latest nominee, diplomat Luca Niculescu, who must secure a parliamentary confidence vote within the next nine days to take office.
George Simion, Dan’s main rival on Romania’s far right and leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), warned that no stable government could be formed without elections. He accused the president of creating a “blockade” against democracy because he “is afraid that we will come to power.”
Simion, a strong euroskeptic who has called for an end to aid to Ukraine, told POLITICO that Dan should give voters an opportunity to resolve the political deadlock through new elections or risk being removed from office.
AUR has led Romanian opinion polls for nearly two years, according to the report.
Simion said he has secured parliamentary support for efforts to challenge the president and suggested that momentum for suspending Dan could increase if Niculescu fails to win approval and the president again refuses to call elections.
“Everyone says, ‘Okay, if this doesn’t pass, we will go to early elections,’ but they don’t know Nicușor Dan as I do,” Simion said, describing the president as “very stubborn.” He added that his supporters could secure enough signatures and votes to suspend Dan, “if not remove him.”
Dan has ruled out giving AUR a role in government. He defeated Simion in last year’s presidential election and views his rival’s politics as a threat to Romania’s pro-Western and pro-European direction.
The president has opposed early elections, arguing that an election campaign would delay budgetary reforms and funding for healthcare.
Romania has also begun to feel the economic consequences of the political uncertainty. The Romanian leu has weakened against the euro since the crisis began, while concerns have grown over delayed investment decisions.
Siegfried Mureşan, a European Parliament member and one of Dan’s potential choices for prime minister, warned that the prolonged political uncertainty was already having economic consequences.
“Delaying early elections and remaining in this deadlock would, at some point, also have negative economic consequences,” Mureşan told POLITICO.
He said investors were already holding back major investment decisions while waiting for greater political certainty.
“The political uncertainty that exists now in the country can easily turn into economic uncertainty,” Mureşan said.
Simion, meanwhile, sought to reassure international investors that AUR would pursue fiscal responsibility if it came to power.
“Nobody wants a new Greece,” he said, adding that his party would do what was necessary to honor Romania’s commitments to international partners and ensure that creditors could recover their money.
Calls for early elections have gained momentum in Bucharest. Leaders from Dan’s former party, Save Romania Union (USR), as well as the National Liberal Party (PNL), Social Democratic Party (PSD) and AUR have all indicated that extraordinary elections could become necessary.
Dan’s latest effort to form a government still has time to succeed, but disagreements between the parties remain a major obstacle.
The liberals have indicated that they could support Niculescu as prime minister if the Social Democrats do not gain too much influence. The PSD, meanwhile, wants the nominee to take the country in a new direction and move away from the austerity policies pursued by outgoing liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
Mureşan, a pro-EU liberal and vice president of the European People’s Party, said the economic risks of prolonging the crisis were real. Although he described early elections as not his “preferred” option, he acknowledged they could become unavoidable.
He also criticized the delays in resolving Romania’s longest political crisis since the fall of communism in 1989.
“If the president had acted quickly in appointing a prime minister in May and had not delayed the appointments, by now we could have had early elections and would be in a situation with a new parliament and a stable government with a four-year agenda,” Mureşan said.
“The options are clearly narrowing and not improving after the political crisis has been prolonged.”
Romania, which borders Ukraine and has the European Union’s sixth-largest population, plays a significant role in NATO’s eastern flank. It hosts a major military base and a U.S. missile-defense facility, making political stability in the country strategically important for the wider region.
