#2019PresidentialElection/USR's Barna:Future gov't should pledge to hold early elections

The Save Romania Union (USR) candidate for the presidential election Dan Barna said in Roman, Neamt County, on Wednesday that the future government has to pledge to hold an early parliamentary election. The USR leader said that in the coming days, when he returns to Bucharest, he will meet Prime Minister-designate Ludovic Orban, as he did not discuss with him after his nomination by President Iohannis. "There is one more aspect that I want to be very clear about: this government, and as I understood from the statement of the president in which he nominated Ludovic Orban, is a caretaker government, with a short tenure, a government that has to pledge as its ultimate goal holding early elections. Once again, the prospect of staying a year until the end of 2020, trying to fix this disastrous Social Democratic Party (PSD) government will only restore the PSD's chance of getting blood through its veins cheeks and returning to govern Romania. Or this is precisely the disaster we have to stop repeating itself because it would be the fourth, fifth time that we would make the same mistake, hoping to get another result," said Barna. At the same time, he reiterated that USR will not support the Orban government unless the four demands are endorsed in Parliament: two-round mayoral elections, a law prohibiting the election of criminal convicts to public offices, Parliament's consultation for Romania's pick for European commissioner and the repeal of the law on compensatory appeal. Barna said that these laws must be adopted before the new government's endorsement vote in order for USR lawmaker to back the Orban government. "If there is a majority that supports the prime minister-designate and the government he will propose, such majority can very easily win Parliament's endorsement for these regulations as well, as these are our demands in exchange for our support. It would be a message to Romania and for citizens that things are changing and that something really changed after the departure of PSD. Otherwise, if we don't have this majority it means that we will continue the political crisis for a few more weeks. Therefore, our position has this prospect of having these preconditions fulfilled before the government is endorsed. Precisely for the citizens to see that democracy has returned to their community," Barna said. The USR leader added that his party will come to rule only after parliamentary elections and provided there is a stable majority in Parliament on which reforms can be built. Barna was on an electioneering tour in Moldova that included the counties of Bacau, Neamt and Suceava. AGERPRES (RO - author: Gabriel Apetrii, editor: Oana Popescu; EN - author; Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Rodica State)