Prime Minister-designate Luca Niculescu will meet on Thursday with the three parliamentary parties as part of consultations on forming the Government and establishing the governing programme.

According to the meetings' schedule, established based on confirmations received from the leaders of political parties so far, Luca Niculescu will meet representatives of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) at 11:00, those of the National Liberal Party (PNL) at 14:00 and representatives of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) at 15:30.

The meetings will be held at the headquarters of the parties, with the schedule for consultations with the other parliamentary parties to be announced as soon as possible.

President Nicusor Dan designated on Monday Luca Niculescu, a Secretary of State at the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE), to form the Government following new consultations which took place at the Cotroceni Palace with the parliamentary parties and groups.

This is the 4th nomination for prime minister, after the Bolojan Government was toppled through a censure motion on 5 May.

The prime minister-designate said on Monday that his first mission would be to build a majority to vote for a Government that would be 'deeply anchored' in Romania's European and Euro-Atlantic direction, mentioning that he would carry out discussions with the parliamentary parties to this end.

Niculescu said that he cannot promise miracles, but could promise responsible use of the public money, accelerated investment and reforms.

The PSD leadership received a mandate from the National Permanent Bureau on Tuesday to begin talks with Prime Minister-designate Luca Niculescu.

'All my colleagues expressed their outrage and disappointment that the president, instead of entrusting the PSD with the prime minister mandate, has continued to conduct political experiments. (...) As for Luca Niculescu, I can tell you that I have nothing but words of appreciation for him. He is a decent, professional person who proved that he can handle difficult portfolios. But this is not enough for the Romanians represented by the PSD. We want to see whether there is a genuine desire on the part of the prime minister-designate to break Romania away from the failed Bolojan policies. In this regard, I asked my colleagues for a broad mandate to listen to Mr Luca Niculescu. (...) It is absolutely necessary to see what his economic and social vision is and whether it is compatible with the governing programme prepared by the PSD,' PSD President Sorin Grindeanu said after the meeting of the party's National Permanent Bureau.

Leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) George Simion was among the first politicians to react after the head of state announced the designation of Luca Niculescu as prime minister.

'Luca Niculescu is just another puppet. Zero votes from the AUR! Freedom for Calin Georgescu,' George Simion wrote on his Facebook page on Monday evening.

The PNL will decide whether to support the investiture of the Government led by PM-designate Luca Niculescu after analysing his proposals for ministerial offices, PNL's Spokesman, Deputy Ionel Bogdan said on Tuesday. He reiterated that the Liberals will not form a Government together with the PSD.

'I announced even before the consultations that the National Liberal Party would only take internal decisions after the designation and after we had reviewed the proposed cabinet, the candidates put forward by the prime minister-designate. And subsequently, of course, we will discuss within the party, in its statutory bodies, what needs to be done and how we will proceed. If our colleagues decide to do so, we will vote to invest the Government. If not, we will not. But until then, we need to see what proposals Mr Niculescu comes up with and, depending on that, we will take the necessary decisions,' Ionel Bogdan said.

The Save Romania Union (USR) will analyse the programme, the ministerial team and the majority backing Luca Niculescu for the position of prime minister, party President Dominic Fritz said. He also reiterated that the USR will not support a Government with PSD ministers or one 'controlled' by the PSD.

'The USR has taken note of the designation of Luca Niculescu as prime minister. He is a respected career diplomat, renowned for the professional execution of the missions entrusted to him, such as the process of Romania's accession to the OECD. The USR will analyse the programme, the ministerial team and the majority supporting him. We will discuss with the designated prime minister how he intends to ensure that the Government can deliver results, as USR ministers have done,' Dominic Fritz said in a Facebook post.

UDMR President Kelemen Hunor believes that the parties must reach a compromise for the Luca Niculescu Government to secure Parliament's vote, because otherwise 'the country will enter a deadlock.' He said he had spoken by phone with the prime minister-designate, but had not learned whether he would propose political ministers or ones who are 'less political.'

Kelemen Hunor told a news conference on Tuesday in Arad, that 'after one hundred and fifty-something days, everyone is waiting for Romania to have a fully empowered Government, because things cannot continue as they have so far.'

'Romania has never experienced such a government crisis, especially since 1989, after the fall of communism. (...) The regional and international situation is not favourable either for Romania or for the other states. The war in the Middle East, the war between Russia and Ukraine, the slowdown of the European economy are also affecting us extremely severely. Without a fully empowered Government, this interim Government has not had the power since May to issue emergency ordinances, initiate draft laws or launch public policies and, slowly, the entire country is entering a deadlock,' the UDMR leader underscored. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Catalina Matei; EN - writing by: Rodica State)

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