Parliament to vote on Wednesday on the investiture of the Mureșan government

The joint standing committee of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate decided on Saturday that the joint session of Romania's two parliamentary chambers on the investiture of the government led by Siegfried Mureșan will be held on Wednesday, September 30, starting at 1 p.m.

The parliamentary hearings of the ministerial candidates will take place on Monday and Tuesday, when they will be questioned by the relevant specialized committees, which will then issue opinions on the candidates, though these are not binding. At Wednesday's joint session, Mureșan will have a total of 30 minutes to present his government program and cabinet and to close the debate. The speaking time allotted to the parliamentary groups was determined according to their size: the Social Democratic Party (PSD) gets 11 minutes, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) 8, the National Liberal Party (PNL) 7, the Save Romania Union (USR) 5, and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) 3. The Alliance for National Minorities (UPR), the group of national minorities, SOS Romania and PACE each get one minute, while independent deputies and senators together get two minutes.

The investiture of the cabinet requires the support of at least 233 deputies and senators; the PNL, USR and RMDSZ, which back Mureșan, together have 169 confirmed votes — on Saturday, the prime minister-designate spoke of 170 supporting votes. This means 63–64 additional votes are needed to reach the required majority. The PSD has already decided not to support the cabinet, and the AUR will also vote against it, while Mureșan said he would continue consultations with representatives of national minorities, independent lawmakers and other parliamentary groups until the vote. If the Mureșan government fails to secure the necessary majority, President Nicușor Dan could nominate another candidate for prime minister or, if the constitutional conditions are met, dissolve Parliament. The president has previously said he does not support calling early elections.

Source: HotNews