Tariceanu on potentially running for president: I will prepare well for final with current president

Chairman of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said on Monday that in the event that he runs for presidential elections, he will prepare "well" for a final with the current president, Klaus Iohannis. 

Tariceanu has stated that the decision on this candidacy will be "a political decision that will engage the coalition". 

"At the moment, we have not made this decision, it will be a political decision that will engage the coalition. We will see whether it will be me. You know me, I will prepare myself well for the final with the current president," the ALDE leader told private broadcaster Romania TV. 

Calin Popescu-Tariceanu criticized Klaus Iohannis for trying to divide the country through the referendum on 26 May. 

"The president's role is to unify the nation, not that of a character that divides the country in two, as the president did at the last press conference, when he said: I want to see who is with me and who is against me. This is not the role of the referendum, this is not the role of any electoral confrontation. People should be called to say yes, I am analysing, these are the proposals, the electoral offers, this is what this candidate wants to do, these are the things his opponent wants to do and I have to choose to see what is best for me as a citizen, what is best for the country I live in, for my generation, for the future generation. The presidency is not a flower that you pin on your buttonhole and after five years you fight to get it one more time," Tariceanu said.