PSD senator Daniel Zamfir, proposed economy minister, once said he would not back the Niculescu government
Proposed by PSD for the economy ministry, Daniel Zamfir explained on Thursday, 15 October, why he wrote on a sheet of paper on 5 October that he would not vote for the Luca Niculescu cabinet, as the party prepares to join the government with 11 ministers.
A written refusal on television
On 5 October, shortly after President Nicușor Dan named Luca Niculescu as prime minister designate, Daniel Zamfir, leader of the PSD senators, told a television talk show moderated by Victor Ciutacu that he would not vote to invest the executive. He asked the presenter for a sheet of paper, wrote that he would not vote for the Luca Niculescu government, signed it and showed it to the camera. The moment was captured on video, and the sheet became the centre of the dispute that followed.
Party leader Sorin Grindeanu criticised the nomination the same day and said the Permanent National Bureau would meet the next day to examine it.
The president's new prime ministerial nomination continues to defy parliamentary arithmetic.
- Zamfir says on television that he will not vote for the Niculescu government and writes it on a sheet of paper
- Zamfir says PSD will not give the designated prime minister a blank cheque
- PSD decides to enter government, with Zamfir proposed for the economy ministry
- Luca Niculescu is due to submit his programme and minister list to Parliament
- Proposed ministers are to be heard in Parliament
- Investiture vote on the Niculescu government is scheduled
Zamfir's explanation
On 6 October, Zamfir said the party would not give the designated prime minister a blank cheque and called for an end to the austerity measures of the former government led by Ilie Bolojan. Speaking to G4Media, he said that the sheet referred to a blank vote, which would apply if Sorin Grindeanu asked social democrats to vote for a government in a session. He tied that scenario to the premise that austerity should not continue.
On Thursday, 15 October, Zamfir gave a further explanation. He said he had forgotten to mention an important detail and blamed the noise in the studio for the wording. He also raised, during the programme, the hypothesis of a PSD vote for the Niculescu government out of fear of the DNA.
I said that I will not give a blind vote to the Luca Niculescu government.
PSD enters government with 11 ministers
On Wednesday, 14 October, PSD decided to join the government. Its list names Marian Neacșu as deputy prime minister and interior minister, Radu Oprea for defence, Radu Marinescu for justice, Alexandru Stoica for development, public works and administration, Ștefan Ovidiu Popa for transport and infrastructure, and Mihai Ghigiu for investment and European projects. Daniel Zamfir is proposed for the economy ministry, Florin Barbu for agriculture, Alexandru Rogobete for health, Florin Manole for labour and Natalia Intotero for environment, waters and forests. Other portfolios are reportedly to go to technocrats. Several proposed PSD ministers, including Barbu, Rogobete, Manole and Marinescu, have held government posts before.
Timetable for the vote
Luca Niculescu is due to submit his government programme and minister list to Parliament on Thursday, 15 October. The proposed ministers will be heard on Monday, 19 October, and the investiture vote is scheduled for Tuesday, 20 October.
Who Zamfir is
Zamfir is 59 years old, according to G4Media, and a senator for Bucharest in the 2024-2028 legislature. He leads the PSD group in the Senate. He entered Parliament in 2012 as a deputy for Brașov on the National Liberal Party (PNL) list, became a senator in 2016, later left the PNL for ALDE, then led by Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, and eventually joined the PSD. He graduated from the Technical University of Constructions Bucharest and held local political posts, including membership of the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest.
He is best known for banking legislation, including the dării în plată law, which allows certain credit obligations to be settled by transferring the mortgaged property to the creditor, subject to legal conditions. G4Media also reports that Zamfir announced in June 2026, ahead of the Competition Council, the results of a new inquiry that found ten banks had coordinated their behaviour in setting the ROBOR index. The sanction totalled 3.73 billion lei (710 million euros).