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National Liberal Party (PNL) Deputy Chairman Rares Bogdan declared, on Monday, before the PNL leadership meeting, that the tensions in the governmental coalition that emerged after the revocation of Vlad Voiculescu as Minister of Health must "end very fast", stating that "it doesn't look good at all in Brussels, it doesn't look good at all in front of Romania's citizens", and there are multiple challenges generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to him, Romania is under the NATO security umbrella and in a priority partnership with the USA and it is currently in an "extraordinary position" in Europe.
"We have no reason to have such interruptions, such impeded issues, which, I repeat, are detrimental in terms of economic life, in terms of citizen confidence and, of course, we are still in the third wave, we are in full of COVID-19 pandemic, I do not think that this is what our citizens expect from us," said Rares Bogdan.
Asked if the prime minister would offer guarantees to his coalition colleagues that he would no longer dismiss ministers without the consent of the governing partners, Rares Bogdan replied the Constitution should be amended to that end.
"Well, this is the prime minister's prerogative, he guarantees the policies and Florin Citu cannot be required, when not satisfied with a minister in terms of the enforcement of governmental policies and the implementation of the governing program, not to be able to demand the minister's change or not to proceed to the latter's replacement," explained the PNL deputy chairman.
He added that last week, at the meeting of the governing coalition, there was a consultation on changes in Health.
President Klaus Iohannis is "a president who does not exceed his constitutional powers", he replied, when asked about the involvement of the head of state in these tensions within the coalition and specified that the PNL representatives did not meet with President Iohannis during this period.
Rares Bogdan also declared that the Liberals are not giving in and will not remove Prime Minister Florin Citu from his position and are expecting USR PLUS to appoint a new Minister of Health, mentioning that he guarantees that by Tuesday evening the situation in the coalition will have ended and things will move ahead in the same formula. He added that the Liberals will not give up any ministry in addition to the December negotiations.
Liberal Rares Bogdan ruled out the formation of a minority government because, he said, "A minority government cannot make reforms. A minority government cannot lead Romania forward, cannot play on economic markets and cannot regain the trust of its partners and cannot create jobs".
