President Nicusor Dan will hold consultations on Wednesday at the Cotroceni Palace with the leaders of the governing coalition.

'Under his constitutional prerogatives, the President of Romania, Nicusor Dan, has invited on Wednesday, to the Cotroceni Palace, the leaders of the following parliamentary parties and political formations for consultations - the PSD, the PNL, the UDMR, the parliamentary group of national minorities and the USR,' the Presidential Administration informed.

According to the quoted source, the consultations will take place as follows:

* 09:00 - the Social Democratic Party (PSD);

* 10:30 - the National Liberal Party (PNL);

* 15:00 - the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR);

* 16:30 - the Parliamentary group of national minorities;

* 18:30 - the Save Romania Union (USR).

PNL President and Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Tuesday that we would go to consultations at the Cotroceni Palace with the mandate of the resolution passed by the Liberal leadership, which outlines firm support for remaining in Government under his leadership and for completion of assumed reforms. The Liberals reconfirmed that, if the PSD moves from statements to actually triggering a political crisis, the party will no longer be part of a coalition with this political formation.

PSD President Sorin Grindeanu said that at Wednesday's consultations at the Cotroceni Palace he will tell President Nicusor Dan that the Social Democrats no longer support Ilie Bolojan as Prime Minister and that they wish to continue in a pro-European coalition, if possible. ''We will tell the President what nearly 5,000 colleagues have mandated us to say. (...) Also, in all the regional meetings we have had over the past month, we have consistently said that we want to continue in a pro-European coalition, if possible, that we will not support a minority government and that we will not form a majority with the AUR [the Alliance for Romanians' Union]. That is what we have said every time, that is the mandate with which we will go to Cotroceni tomorrow,' the PSD leader said on Radio Romania Actualitati.

USR President Dominic Fritz announced that the party's MPs, who gathered in a meeting on Tuesday, had unanimously decided to support remaining in the Government, even if PSD 'defects.'

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Romania entered a political crisis on Monday after the Social Democratic Party, a member of the governing coalition, decided to withdraw its support for Liberal Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.

At an event called 'The Moment of Truth' which was organized at the Palace of Parliament, 5,000 Social Democrats cast their votes on the question proposed by the PSD leadership: 'Taking into account the economic and social collapse of the past 10 months - with recession, inflation, businesses closing, unemployment, falling public investment and declining living standards, especially for young people, for pensioners and vulnerable groups, plus the lack of real dialogue within the Coalition and with social partners: Do you consider that the PSD should withdraw its political support for Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan?.'

The vote expressed by the Social Democrats was overwhelmingly in favour of withdrawing political support for Ilie Bolojan: 97.7% 'in favor' and 2.3% 'against.'

'When 97.7% of your colleagues tell you that this is the mandate, that Ilie Bolojan must go home, there is no room for anything else. (...) I assure you that, in agreement with what you voted today, in the coming days, we will take action. The PSD is the most important party in Romania, it is the number one party in Parliament and, therefore, we will take into account everything that has been said today. We will take into account the mandate that you have given us, so that Romanians' lives are better,' PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu said after the vote in the internal referendum.

On Monday evening, after a PNL internal meeting, PM Ilie Bolojan announced that he will continue to exercise his mandate.

USR leader Dominic Fritz also voiced support for PM Ilie Bolojan on Monday evening and announced that he will not leave the Government, and the USR ministers will continue to go to work.

In an interview with Digi 24 private television station, UDMR President Kelemen Hunor said that the UDMR has 'no reason' to withdraw from the Government. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - writing by: Rodica State)