President Nicușor Dan has named Siegfried Mureșan, a National Liberal MEP and vice-president of the European People’s Party, as Romania’s prime minister-designate.
It was Nicușor ‘s third attempt to end a four-month deadlock. He will sign the decree for the appointment on Saturday.
Dan said Mureșan won the most party backing in Thursday’s consultations, though no name commanded a clear majority.
“I have seen more electoral concern from political parties than for the national interest.”
Mureșan, who was participating in the plenary session of the European Parliament at the time Dan made his announcement accepted at once, stating: Romania needed “a credible government as soon as possible.”
He has ten days to produce a cabinet and programme and to win a confidence vote.
The threshold is 233 seats. PNL, USR and the Hungarian UDMR give him about 169–170. He is therefore seats 64 short for now.
The Social Democrats, the largest party in the lower house, and the nationalistic right AUR have both signalled a freeze.
PSD wants its own leader, Sorin Grindeanu, and will not vote for a cabinet it does not sit in. The Liberals refuse to re-enter coalition with the left.
The crisis began in May. Ilie Bolojan’s pro-European coalition, assembled to cut a gaping deficit, fell when PSD walked out and joined AUR in a no-confidence vote over austerity.
Dan’s first two nominees (adviser Eugen Tomac and Liberal Adrian Veștea) both failed.
Bolojan remains caretaker. Markets are watching the investment-grade rating. AUR leads some polls.
Early elections would be the next constitutional step if this nomination dies too.
Mureșan, 44, is a Brussels operator more than a Bucharest street politician.
An economist, he entered the European Parliament in 2014, first via Traian Băsescu’s People’s Movement before crossing to PNL.
He is in his third term, EPP vice-president since 2019, and one of Parliament’s chief negotiators on the EU’s next multiannual budget and earlier on the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
“Not every government is good for Romania,” he said when the three parties first floated him in June. “We need a government that is pro-European in action, not just in declarations.”
PSD has called him Bolojan’s man, claiming he’s a stranger to Romanian life after two decades abroad.
COMMENT: The political crisis in Romania is, right now, the clearest indication that the era of a progressive Europe, led by bureaucrats in Brussels, is drawing to a close, writes @AlecoTafo. https://t.co/weMdZTUfSI
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) May 4, 2026
