PSD's Vasilescu: Grindeanu government would pass with UDMR backing, using Veștea votes as a starting point

Arithmetic of a Grindeanu cabinet

PSD is openly counting on UDMR’s votes to push a single-party government through parliament. Vasilescu noted that the failed Veștea cabinet, voted down on Monday with 189 votes against a 233 threshold, provides a floor the party can build from.

“If we had UDMR's votes, I tell you a Grindeanu government would pass without problems.”

She described UDMR as a serious party that keeps its word and recalled that Kelemen Hunor, the UDMR leader, has indicated his party’s first choice is rebuilding the original coalition but that it would also vote for a PSD monocolor government.

Secret ballot and the suveranist question

Asked directly about AUR’s potential support, Vasilescu avoided a concrete answer, arguing the vote is secret and the party does not need to know individual MPs’ choices. She implied, however, that some of the votes received by Veștea came from the suveranist camp and that those same legislators could back Grindeanu.

“You see, the vote is secret in Parliament. Normally we shouldn’t know how MPs vote. Normally we shouldn’t know who supports a government from a political party, how many are for and how many are against.”

Who is blocking the process

Vasilescu blamed the prolonged interim at the Victoria Palace on a single person who, she said, refuses to step aside. The reference was to acting prime minister Ilie Bolojan, whom PSD wants removed from the premiership. She stressed the party’s readiness to govern, either by joining a coalition that excludes Bolojan or by assuming power alone.

“Our plan is that we offered ourselves – either we enter a coalition government, but without Ilie Bolojan as prime minister, or we assume governance ourselves, as everyone has been telling us for two months: assume it, assume it yourselves. We assume it.”

Openness to an independent premier

Vasilescu also signalled that PSD would not block an independent prime minister. She recalled that the party had pledged its votes for the Tomac cabinet and had done the same for the Veștea government, even when it was told it would receive no state secretaries or prefects. She accused “the right” of reversing its own commitments at Bolojan’s behest.