Crin Antonescu urges President Nicușor Dan to name Alexandru Nazare PM or resign amid three-month governance crisis

Antonescu's proposal for prime minister

Crin Antonescu, former PNL leader and the common candidate of PSD, PNL and UDMR in the 2025 presidential elections, said on Saturday evening on Antena 3 CNN that President Nicușor Dan should designate Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare as the next prime minister. Antonescu described Nazare as "the only solution that responds to the essential points" required of a prime minister. He cited Nazare's second term as Finance Minister, his experience as a parliamentarian and MEP, his work with the European Commission, banking institutions and creditors, and his capacity to negotiate with coalition parties. Antonescu revealed that if he had been elected president, he would not have designated Ilie Bolojan for the premiership, and that Nazare would have been his choice. He noted that he was the only presidential candidate, apart from George Simion, who never said he would appoint Bolojan as prime minister.

Sharp criticism of Bolojan

Antonescu launched a harsh attack on current PNL leader and interim PM Ilie Bolojan, calling him a "rudimentary demagogue" and saying he did not believe Bolojan would grow electorally beyond the combined PNL-USR score at the beginning. He accused Bolojan of believing he can accumulate political points indefinitely while Romania remains without a government. Antonescu also criticized Bolojan for refusing to allow PNL to participate in any governing formula other than one led by himself, one accepted by USR, or what he called "phantasmagorical formulas" such as one with Sigfried Mureșan. He said Bolojan was used by Nicușor Dan as "an electoral asset, with success," but that this has now backfired on the president.

Responsibility at the presidency

Despite the criticism of Bolojan, Antonescu argued that the interim PM is not clinging to power. He said Bolojan will leave the Victoria Palace the moment President Dan and a parliamentary majority invest a new government, and that until then, responsibility for the delay does not belong to Bolojan. Antonescu described the situation as "a crisis of leadership of the country" and said that "the seat of the matter, the seat of the problem, is at the Cotroceni Palace," the presidential headquarters. He noted three months of governmental vacancy, compounded by parliamentary and presidential recess.

Call for presidential action or resignation

Antonescu demanded that President Dan act decisively rather than continuing to scold, invite, or wait for parties. He said the president has spent three months asking citizens to be calm and begging parties to be responsible. When challenged that the president might want to resolve the crisis but be unable to, Antonescu responded sharply.

“Wait a moment! What do you mean he can't? Then he must resign!”

He added that a president worth having must be able to fulfill what the Constitution prescribes. Antonescu also said the "pro-European, pro-Western" formula sold to the electorate during the elections has failed.

“We have arrived in this situation because a formula that was sold since the elections, sold during the presidential elections and sold in electoral rhetoric under the formula pro-Europeans, pro-Westerners, more recently, says the president, has failed.”

He argued that if Bolojan refuses any formula with PNL, then a governing formula without PNL should be sought. Bolojan himself has stated that he will not leave office, saying that if he left the next day no problem would be solved, and that the solution is to find a formula for a stable government in the coming period.