The National Council of the National Liberal Party (PNL) meets on Friday afternoon to convene an Extraordinary Congress.

The extraordinary meeting, scheduled to start at 17:00, will be held online, with 800 Liberal delegates taking part.

The main objective of the meeting is to convene the PNL Extraordinary Congress on Sunday at 12:00 at Romexpo and set its agenda.

A number of 2,500 delegates from across the country are expected to attend the Extraordinary Congress, including 500 ex officio members and 2,000 elected by the party's territorial organisations.

The National Council is also set to decide in Friday's extraordinary meeting on amendments to the party's statute. According to Liberal sources, one change would target reducing the number of first vice-president posts from four to one. The party's first vice-presidents are currently Adrian Vestea, Nicoleta Pauliuc, Ciprian Ciucu and Catalin Predoiu, the latter having resigned from the position on Wednesday.

The decision to convene the National Council was taken on Wednesday by the party's National Political Bureau (BPN), which met urgently after Adrian Vestea refused to comply with the party's ultimatum to resign as prime minister-designate.

'The National Liberal Party needs clarity, assumed decisions and an unequivocal direction. That is why I proposed today the organisation of the PNL Extraordinary Congress on 21 June. We did not want it, but the situation requires it. It is time to put things in order, to clarify the party's direction and to focus on what we have to do for the Romanians who placed their confidence in us. I am convinced that being consistent between what we say and what we do is a basic condition for being a party you can rely on, a party of Romania's modernisation,' PNL leader Ilie Bolojan said after the BPN decision.

On Monday, the same governing body voted against the party joining a Government with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) (39 votes in favour, 10 against, four abstentions), against supporting a Government led by Adrian Vestea (41 votes in favour, 13 against, two abstentions) and in favour of asking him to resign as prime minister-designate (39 votes in favour, 13 against, three abstentions). Another decision was that PNL MPs who vote for the Vestea Government or who may be proposed in that Cabinet would lose their party membership.

On Tuesday, the PNL announced that Adrian Vestea was outside the party, taking into account that he had not resigned as prime minister-designate.

According to the PNL statute, sanctions against members holding positions elected at the PNL Congress, as is the case with the first vice-president, are decided by a vote of Congress members, following a proposal from the National Political Bureau, adopted by the National Council.

In these circumstances, 16 party MPs, critics of Bolojan: Monica Anisie, Andrei Baciu, Sorin Cimpeanu, Mihai Culeafa, Alina Gorghiu, Ion Iordache, Aneta Matei, Ciprian Pandea, Nicoleta Pauliuc, Alexandru Popa, Razvan Prisca, George Scarlat, Ionut Stroe, Mihail Vestea, Sebastian Mihai Rusu and Eduard Tatian Mititelu, requested the Ilfov Tribunal to suspend the decisions taken by the PNL National Political Bureau on 15 June regarding the sanctioning of party MPs who would vote for the investiture of the Vestea Government.

The Ilfov Tribunal ruled in their favour on Thursday and decided to suspend these BPN decisions and, as a result, the PNL announced it will challenge the Ilfov Tribunal ruling within the legal deadline and said the party will continue its political activity without impediments, based on its own decisions.

In this context, Adrian Vestea has announced his intention to run at the party congress for the position of party chairman.

Adrian Vestea was appointed prime minister-designate on Sunday morning by President Nicusor Dan, after Eugen Tomac stepped down. Vestea has not yet submitted the governing programme and the list of ministers to Parliament, with a new timeframe for this step set for Monday. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Alina Novaceanu; EN - writing by: Rodica State)