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PM Citu: Nothing to discuss with USR at present; all options are on the table after Tuesday
Prime Minister Florin Citu says that the Liberals have nothing to discuss with USR PLUS at the moment, but that after Tuesday, when the no confidence motion is voted, all options will be considered.
"PNL has nothing to discuss with a party that overthrows the government of the National Liberal Party, especially when it associates itself with AUR [the Alliance for the Union of Romanians], an extremist party and with those from PSD [the Social Democratic Party], those who are the enemies of the Romanians. So we have nothing to discuss at this moment, and after Tuesday we will see what the options are, but I say that all the options are on the table after Tuesday," Citu declared on Sunday.
In this context, he accused USR PLUS of hypocrisy.
"If the USR had said in the election campaign or after that they would vote with AUR and by PSD's side to overthrow the PNL government, we would never have formed a coalition with the USR. They were dishonest, they were not honest with the Romanians and today we see that, in fact, for USR there are no scruples, they join these parties with which we, the PNL, do not want to deal. (...) The National Liberal Party has already expressed its choice (...), it is a party that will continue to do everything to be in government and to implement the government program. WE also saw Mr. Dan Barna say something we should all remember now. He said that the political goal is important, not the instrument. We will use this statement further," the prime minister said.
Florin Citu added that, in his opinion, by voting on the no confidence motion, the USR PLUS parliamentarians would validate the PSD's opinion that even the ministers the former had "were incompetent".
Om the other hand, USR PLUS Chairman-elect Dacian Ciolos, when asked if he would agree for Prime Minister Florin Citu to hold another position following the negotiations, such as that of Senate President, Deputy Prime Minister or Minister of Finance, replied that such things "can be discussed."
He specified that it is important for the prime minister to work in a team with the other ministers and "not consider himself as bailiff on his estate".
"These are things that can be discussed. We talked about the government, because that's where the government program is implemented and that's where we have to function as a team. And the prime minister, no matter what party he is from, even the prime minister from PNL [National Liberal Party] - and they are entitled to nominate a prime minister - must work in a team with the other ministers and not consider himself as bailiff on his estate," Ciolos told a press conference held at the USR PLUS headquarters.
He added that in Romania there have been several crises in recent years, and the solutions have been "short-term", because the politicians' goal was to calm people down. In this regard, he advocated the implementation of long-term goals, including in healthcare.
"At the Ministry of Health, while we had ministers, in addition to solving the current problems of pandemic management, a lot of work was done on the preparation of investment projects. Investments in hospitals, in people, with a vision over the next two-three-four-five years, too. (...) There was a fire in one hospital and then in another hospital a few months ago and we have no guarantee that this will not happen in another month, two or three. But we can have guarantees that if we have a responsible government, that money from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan is used for investment, not to solve the internal problems of one party or another, as Prime Minister Citu wanted to do with that PNDL [National Local Development Program]. This is what the parties who want a partnership with USR PLUS should know," Ciolos said.