Prime Minister-designate Eugen Tomac announced that he will send on Thursday the political parties the government programme he intends to submit for parliamentary approval and that he will request a new round of consultations with them.

'My deadline is to present the government programme and the Cabinet list on Sunday. I have already presented the Cabinet to the parties. During the course of today, we will send them the government programme and, naturally, I will meet with the political parties again to seek their support, because in the meantime I have finalised both the list of ministers and the government programme, specifically so that we can have a substantive discussion based on the programme. (...) I will request a new round of talks with the democratic parties represented in Parliament in order to identify together a solution that can overcome this lack of dialogue between parties and the extremely rigid approach we have seen. Politics is based on dialogue and compromise. I am a centre-right politician, but I am willing to understand both the demands of the left-wing and the reform-minded expectations of the right. I am a person of dialogue and I am fully aware of the situation we are facing,' Tomac said on Thursday in an interview with Radio RFI Romania.

He said that he completed the list of ministers and sent it to the political parties, stressing that he is willing to discuss each nomination individually.

'I have already informed the parties, including colleagues from PNL [National Liberal Party] and USR [Save Romania Union], that we are prepared to discuss every name in the proposed Cabinet because I want to break the deadlock in a situation that we did not create. Both my team and I are prepared to make any compromise necessary to resolve this impasse, as long as the parties continue not to speak to one another and maintain barriers that, from what we can see, they are unwilling to overcome. (...) It is a final list. I have nominees for every ministry, including the three deputy prime ministers whom I intend to present as part of the future Cabinet. However, if there are uncertainties or objections regarding any proposed individual, I am naturally open to finding an alternative solution,' the prime minister-designate said.

Tomac added that he is prepared to consider proposals from political parties regarding the ministerial list, provided they are made 'in a serious manner' rather than based on interpretation or political manoeuvring.

'If those parties wish to propose individuals, naturally from outside the parties themselves, I am willing to consider this, but in a serious manner and not merely on the basis of differing interpretations. In a politically independent government, you can have professionals with centre-right, moderate or centre-left convictions. What matters to me is that they share the same vision as the Cabinet I am proposing when it comes to values. It is also essential that they are well qualified and capable of taking responsibility. Where I was unable to persuade people from outside the public administration to join, I sought to convince highly competent individuals from within state institutions, people who are broadly acceptable to all parties,' Tomac explained.

According to him, Romania urgently needs a government to address issues related to drawing down European funds through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and the SAFE programme, as well as to take immediate action to restart economic growth.

'As long as the country remains in this political crisis, nobody is interested in a country that finds itself in such a fragile and vulnerable position. Investors are not coming, no one is engaging with us and the pressure to find a solution is increasing by the day,' the prime minister-designate said. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Daniel Florea; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)