Romanian PM candidate Siegfried Mureșan accuses PSD of anti-Europeanism after party mocks his European credentials

The coalition proposal

Siegfried Mureșan, a 12-year MEP and vice-president of the National Liberal Party (PNL), was put forward as prime minister candidate by the PNL-USR-UDMR coalition in late June 2026. The nomination comes nearly two months after a motion of censure ousted the previous government, with interim leadership under PNL president Ilie Bolojan. Mureșan, also a vice-president of the European People’s Party, is positioning himself as a pro-European reformist for the role.

Vasilescu’s attack

On Saturday, PSD mayor of Craiova Lia Olguța Vasilescu ridiculed Mureșan during the National Conference of the Social Democratic Women's Organization.

“Mr. Bolojan wants to propose a prime minister who has no idea how people live in Romania. Romanians will twist their tongues just to pronounce his name. Siegfried Mureșan, specialist in absorbing European funds. I think he only absorbed his MEP salary.”

She added that in 20 years he had not lived in Romania and that his CV showed no national project experience.

Mureșan’s response

On Sunday, Mureșan published a pointed Facebook reply.

“The fact that the PSD has a problem with my long European experience confirms that, for them, Europe is not something good, positive, towards which they aspire. They don't understand that Europe makes us stronger, that we are part of European culture and civilisation.”

He said many PSD politicians are, at heart, anti-European: they dislike rules, laws and transparency, which is why they feel so comfortable alongside the nationalist party AUR.

The European cleavage

Mureșan’s statement frames the PNL-USR-UDMR coalition as the pro-European option and PSD as a party that will always keep Romania at Europe’s edge.

“PSD will always keep Romania on the margin of Europe. I believe Romania deserves to be in the middle of Europe.”

The exchange sharpened the EU-scepticism line ahead of coalition negotiations and underscored that Mureșan’s European profile is both his main asset and his main political target.