Interim Defence Minister Radu Miruta said on Monday that a government formed around the Social Democratic Party (PSD) would, in his view, represent 'a major risk to the entire business environment', as Romania prepares for the appointment of a new prime minister.

'We have shown that things can get done in this country even when PSD is not in government, and we have shown that things can get done with far fewer state secretaries,' Miruta told a press conference in Targu Jiu.

He said the timing of the nomination of a new prime minister was exclusively the president's prerogative, adding that, judging by public discussions, he expected this to happen within days.

'It remains to be seen which direction will be taken. One option is a government built around PSD, which, in my view, would pose a major risk to the entire business environment. Businesses have faced fiscal pressures this year, accepting that the government was in urgent need of additional revenue, while the measures it took to cut spending could not produce results overnight. The private sector therefore shouldered part of the burden, additional revenue was raised and the deficit came down. If PSD now returns, all the money that has been painstakingly saved and all the hardship the Romanian state has gone through will have been for nothing,' Miruta said.

Miruta said the other option would be a USR-PNL government, with the composition of the executive reflecting the parties' electoral support.

'The other option is a USR-PNL government. I don't think this is about what one party or another would prefer, but about the election results. Our proposal is for a prime minister to govern with USR, PNL and UDMR ministers for part of the remaining period until the elections, in proportion to the votes received, after which they would step aside and PSD ministers would take their places. The country cannot simply be handed entirely over to PSD, not because I personally dislike PSD, but because it received only twenty-something percent of the vote. That should not give it the right to control the entire Romanian government for the whole of the remaining period,' Miruta said.

The interim defence minister also rejected the idea of a technocratic prime minister or government.

'I don't believe in the idea of a technocratic politician, or of a prime minister or minister supposedly standing outside party politics when their decisions ultimately have to be supported in Parliament. If Parliament reflects the balance between political parties, the government cannot be divorced from that political reality. Calling someone a technocrat can simply be a way of saying, 'I have my party membership card in my pocket, but I won't show it to you.' I personally don't believe in that approach. USR has made it very clear that, regardless of how many ministries it is offered, it will no longer govern alongside PSD,' Radu Miruta added.

He made the remarks while attending the opening of the new school year at Alexandru Stefulescu School in Targu Jiu. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Popescu; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)