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President Klaus Iohannis said Wednesday that the next prime minister he will appoint will be someone without criminal records, insisting that it is unconceivable for the country to be guarded over by someone with criminal records.
"I have not issued any composite; I have just enunciated some of the conditions I will impose when discussing the next prime minister after the general election, and I believe I did it quite clearly and firmly. Let us take criminal records for an example. We have all read (...) for instance that they hire security officers, as watchmen are called now. Each time they hire security guards, the first requirement is the applicant having a clean criminal record. How can we imagine that the country can be guarded over by someone with criminal records? It is absolutely unconceivable. A clean slate should be a minimum requirement, and I do not feel like giving up on it at all. I do feel that all the parties have understood that," Iohannis told an Adevarul Live webcast.
He added that his statement is not against a certain political party, and he made it due course so that the political parties may prepare themselves to come up with nominations of people for prime minister who are serious, clean and able.
"As the president, I do not take any issue with a certain political party. But I do take issue with undeserving people acting like leaders. I take issue with people indicted and prosecuted trying to use all possible media to claim they are genuine politicians while the rest of us are poor examples. That should not stand. I have made the statement in due course so that all the political parties may prepare serious, clean and able people to be recommended for the office of the prime minister, so as to avoid useless talks after the election," said Iohannis.
He added that he is not seeking for some friend to be the next prime minister.
"After negotiations [with political parties], I will designate the person I trust the most to make up a serious government; I am not seeking a friend, but someone guaranteed by the parties, (...) someone to be the prime minister for the next four years," said Iohannis.
He added that he doubts any party will be able to capture over 50 percent of the ballots in the December 11 general election, adding that he does not believe in the solution of a national union government.
"I do not believe in solutions such as national union governments. In certain politically or geo-politically complicated circumstances, the need or opportuneness for a national union government may exist, but overall, I do not believe it is a good solution. (...) Even a technocratic government can be a solution, but only under exceptional circumstance. The rule in any democracy is a government endorsed by Parliament," said Iohannis.
