Romania’s ruling parties to field joint candidate in presidential election

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Romania’s coalition government has been sworn in for a second term and will field a joint candidate in the upcoming presidential election after the shock cancellation of the vote due to alleged Russian meddling.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu took the helm of his three-way coalition on Monday after weeks of political turmoil prompted by the scrapped election, picking retired liberal politician Crin Antonescu for the presidential poll, which is likely to take place in spring.

“We have all learned from the mistakes of the past,” Ciolacu said. “It will not be an easy mandate. It is essential that this government restores investor confidence . . . Romanians need stability, reforms and security.”

The surprise win of a pro-Vladimir Putin ultranationalist, Călin Georgescu, in the first round of the now cancelled presidential vote, and far-right parties capturing a third of parliamentary seats in general elections, have sent Romania’s politics and economy into a tailspin.

Fitch rating agency last week downgraded the country’s rating outlook to negative and warned of “rising polarisation of Romanian society”, casting doubt on how long the governing coalition will stay in office.

After weeks of negotiations, the centre-left Social Democrats, the centre-right National Liberal party and the ethnic Hungarian minority party (UDMR) rekindled their previous alliance and agreed on Antonescu, who briefly served as president in 2012 while the then-president, Traian Băsescu, was suspended.

Antonescu had retired from politics a decade ago. He told Digi24 TV that he had not “requested” to be the joint candidate but accepted the nomination because “I also think it’s a very complicated political situation.”

Georgescu is not subject to any legal proceedings. However, the Constitutional Court could still invalidate his bid for presidency after it agreed with Romanian authorities’ assessment that he had benefited from an illegal campaign co-ordinated by Russia.

Pro-EU liberal candidate Elena Lasconi, who had made it into the cancelled run-off with Georgescu, also plans to run and has criticised the government and the heads of secret services for failing to detect and prevent Georgescu’s rise on social media.

Lasconi and other opposition voices have warned that authorities risk being as unprepared for the new election as they were the last one, even if Georgescu is disqualified. The leader of the far-right AUR party, George Simion, has vowed to run if Georgescu is not allowed to.

On the economic front, Ciolacu’s next few months in office will be dominated by efforts to adopt a budget for next year and start reining in one the highest public deficits in the EU: 8.6 per cent of GDP in 2024.

The government plans to reach a deficit of 7 per cent of GDP next year and eventually meet the EU target of 3 per cent over the next decade.

Analysts and rating agencies expect more tax rises, which the government will struggle to push through a raucous parliament where it holds a slim majority. Lasconi’s liberal USR party quit the coalition talks last week in part because of the lack of a credible budget plan.

“I wish success to the new coalition, a pro-European, pro-Romania coalition,” said President Klaus Iohannis. “I believe they will cope very well with the problems we face: the budget and establishing the calendar for the presidential elections.”

According to the constitution, the president will stay in office until his successor is sworn in.

“The new presidential election . . . will maintain high political uncertainty, and will probably also delay the implementation of fiscal consolidation measures,” Fitch ratings said.