Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Sorin Grindeanu said on Thursday in Craiova that his party was prepared for possible snap elections, which he described as a scenario 'on the table', although he stressed that Romania should avoid such an option for economic reasons.

Grindeanu reiterated that Prime Minister-designate Siegfried Muresan should relinquish his mandate and that the PSD would not vote for his proposed government.

'We discussed this with our PSD colleagues in the room. We will be prepared. Of course, according to our calculations, the earliest snap elections could be held, if the procedure were launched next week or in the following two weeks, would be sometime in February. The Social Democratic Party will be extremely well prepared for snap elections. Those who are trying to write our obituary or have tried to dig our grave will, I am convinced and have no hesitation in saying, fall into it themselves,' Grindeanu said after meeting the leadership of the PSD's county organisations in the Oltenia region in Craiova.

The PSD leader said, however, that snap elections are a scenario Romania should avoid from an economic standpoint and again called on Muresan to relinquish his mandate.

'From an economic standpoint, this is not a situation Romania would want. I believe it is a situation we should avoid. After this joke of a nomination, Siegfried Vasile Muresan, I think we should come up with a serious solution and quickly have a government. That is the right solution for Romania. That is why I made this appeal before, and again today and yesterday. Let's shorten this period. He should relinquish his mandate. Because Mr Siegfried Muresan does not want to be prime minister. Everything he has done since Thursday evening, when he was nominated, has shown us that he does not want the votes of the Social Democratic Party. Since Thursday evening, he has continued along the same lines we became accustomed to over the summer. So why prolong the ordeal? For what? So that he can go to Parliament and do what? As things stand today, the Social Democratic Party will obviously not vote for this government. We could therefore shorten the process and quickly move to another scenario,' Grindeanu said.

He also criticised the government programme presented by the prime minister-designate, saying that, in his view, it is not a genuine governing programme and offers no concrete answers to issues including local government, Romania's financial situation and investment policy.

'That is not a government programme. It's Bolojan second-hand. Did you take anything away from it? I didn't, because it's all generalities. Things should be good, not bad... That's roughly what that programme is like. That's what those guidelines are like. My colleagues and I were very serious. We waited for him at the party headquarters yesterday, together with five or six colleagues responsible for different policy areas, believing we would have a serious discussion about local government, Romania's financial situation, the measures we need to take and investment, whether local or national. It seems that the arrogance and a kind of brazenness that characterise Mr Muresan are stronger than our desire for dialogue,' the PSD leader said.

Prime Minister-designate Siegfried Muresan reiterated on Thursday that next week's parliamentary vote would be the most important test of the PSD's pro-European credentials, when the party would have to choose between voting for what he called 'a responsible pro-European government' and remaining 'alongside AUR [the Alliance for the Union of Romanians]'.

Muresan also said he would deal fairly with the PSD and hold talks with Grindeanu and the party leadership, rather than going behind their backs to seek individual votes from Social Democratic MPs. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Maria Mitrica; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)