Iohannis says not commenting on court ruling, calls PSD action unprecedented defiance

President Klaus Iohannis said on Monday that the Social Democratic Party (PSD) caused a new crisis by notifying the Constitutional Court (CCR) in the case of the appointment of Ludovic Orban as prime minister. "PSD continues to prove that it is an irresponsible party, playing with the destiny of Romania. After producing one of the most disastrous and anti-European governments after the Revolution, which left the country with major deficits, after the Orban government resigned, in order to preserve the power of the local barons PSD created a new crisis, which they deepened by notifying the Constitutional Court. I will not comment on the decision of the Constitutional Court, as you know I have not commented on before and I will wait for the reasoning. What PSD is doing is unprecedented defiance of the people, especially these days, when Romania needs responsible political action, not for politicians to take it deeper into crisis and instability," Iohannis told the Cotroceni Presidential Palace. He added that he will prepare some concrete steps that he will announce after the reasoning of the Court is published. "It requires a thorough analysis, but in two or three days I will communicate the next step," Iohannis said. He said the appointment of a prime minister from an ad-hoc alliance coalesced around PSD would come into "direct collision with the option of Romanians expressed unequivocally at the European elections, the referendum and last year's presidential election." "I will not appoint a PSD prime minister. (...) There is no party and no coalition that has a majority in Parliament, so I will not appoint a prime minister unless I consider this to be the right solution for the ongoing crisis," said Iohannis, adding that he did not want a national union government. He insisted that a new legislature is needed. "In my opinion, the most legitimate solution is to return to the citizens' vote as soon as possible and to create a new parliamentary majority that can support a stable government, capable of building highways, hospitals, and schools and governing for the citizen. We need a new legislature to offer a new majority, willing to take on and support the reforms necessary for the progress and development of the country. We cannot continue this way, with perpetual deadlock, with governments dismissed quarterly. But we see that PSD is afraid of returning to the people and, although for three years they failed to govern, now they want to prevent from doing their job those who have proven that they want and know what needs to be done in Romania," said Iohannis. He added that despite "PSD blockages," Romania is a governed country, even though it has a caretaker government. AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Rodica State)