Interim Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said on Friday that the sooner a stable Government is sworn in, the better, arguing that the political move initiated by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) 'irresponsibly,' 'with great fanfare,' several months earlier has led to a demobilisation of the government apparatus.

He told a press conference that whether in Government or opposition, the National Liberal Party (PNL) would support projects for Romania and any feasible and correct solutions.

'The invitation to the Cotroceni is made by the President of Romania when he considers it appropriate or when he nominates a prime minister or invites the parties to another round. But, we will see in the coming period. In any case, in real terms: the sooner we have a stable Government, the better. We should not hide it, this action generated by the Social Democratic Party, I say irresponsibly for Romania, with great fanfare several months earlier, has led to a demobilisation of the government apparatus. (...) When there is no clear direction and no pressure, in the good sense, to mobilise the administrative apparatus, it eases off,' Bolojan explained.

According to the prime minister, there has certainly been a 'slowdown' in activity over the past few months, 'justifiably, because they did not know who was coming, how they were coming, who would stay' and this is not beneficial for the absorption of EU funds, for payments or for 'absolutely relevant' matters that have nothing to do with politics.

'At the same time, consider that this Government cannot issue ordinances and cannot resolve certain issues. For example, in relation to meeting the milestones [under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan - PNRR], technical teams are currently negotiating all the conditions, but if there were a fully empowered Government, it could issue emergency ordinances and a milestone would be ticked off immediately, otherwise, that milestone must be addressed through a bill. That is not a problem in itself. What is important is that any amendments made by MPs in one committee or another do not distort the agreement with the European Commission and that, once you have a new law, it is not accepted as a fulfilled milestone. So, these are the kinds of complications we are dealing with. And the sooner a formula is found, the greater the predictability for what lies ahead,' Ilie Bolojan added.

He underscored that, regardless of which Government comes to power and what political solution is found, Romania needs good governance that maintains fiscal balance.

'We have budget commitments, we have some commitments to carry out reforms in order to access European funds, and each reform is worth at least 700 million euros. The nine laws which need to be adopted, if they are not approved in the coming period, could lead to the loss of 7.5 billion euros, which would be a serious mistake, and I hope that the political class is responsible and that, beyond who is in power and who is in opposition, beyond who shouts louder at the other, we understand that Romania has this problem, which we must solve. And, at least as I have stated, the National Liberal Party, regardless of where it will be in the next stage, in power or in opposition, will support all these projects, because they are not the projects of a party, but the projects of Romania, and we will support any feasible and correct solutions for Romania,' Bolojan conveyed. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Alina Novaceanu; EN - writing by: Rodica State)