Opposition leader Orban calls criminal offence PM Dancila's promise to MPs to sway them

National leader of the opposition National Liberal Party (PNL) Ludovic Orban on Monday warned the Social Democrats, at rule, claiming that any promise of money or public offices made to lawmakers to change their political option on the censure motion is a criminal offence. "I am publicly warning the PSD chairperson, the PSD negotiators, that any promise of money or public office to lawmakers to change their political option is a criminal offence, so we are asking them to refrain from the practices with which they accustomed us with, because the chances of such practices are nil; we will continue talks, we will continue the negotiations and we will try to convince lawmakers who have not signed on the censure motion to join this salutary action for Romania, because, in my opinion, any lawmaker who will vote on the censure motion will be a lawmaker appreciated by the public," said Orban, after a meeting of the PNL Executive Bureau. He said that he counted on the positive votes of 244 MPs on the censure motion. According to him, discussions on a possible governing formula will take place after the censure motion. "The official position of PNL and the negotiating mandate will be established on Friday. I will convene today the National Political Bureau of the party [for Friday], which is the forum that debates and gives the mandate to the delegation that will represent PNL in the negotiations with the President, but our goal today is to make sure that the censure motion succeeds," said Orban. He added that on Monday afternoon there will be simultaneous events at each PNL county chapter to mark the beginning of electioneering for the presidential election. AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)