Romania's new PM nominee pushes plan to form government despite his own party

BUCHAREST, June 16 - Romania's prime minister-designate Adrian Vestea said late on Monday he would attempt to form a government and get it approved by parliament, despite his own Liberal Party's call for his resignation.

The outgoing prime minister and Liberal Party leader Ilie Bolojan asked Vestea to resign after centrist President Nicusor Dan nominated him on Sunday without consulting parliamentary parties.

"I want to be clear: I will not resign," Vestea said on Facebook. "I accepted this responsibility in good faith and will go through with this because Romania needs stability."

Bolojan's pro-European coalition government collapsed in early May when its biggest party, the leftist Social Democrats, joined forces with the opposition far right in a no-confidence vote.

Both the Liberals and their junior partners, the centre-right Save Romania Union (USR), ruled out another coalition with the leftists, making it nearly impossible to form a new pro-European government majority without defectors and independents.

The extended political crisis endangers efforts to further cut the largest budget deficit in the European Union, access to billions of EU funds and improve sovereign ratings.

Dan has said Romania must have a pro-European government to carry out reforms and keep the opposition hard right, which leads in opinion polls, out of power.

His first choice for prime minister, presidential adviser Eugen Tomac, resigned on Sunday after he failed to secure a parliamentary majority for his government of technocrats.

Both the Liberals and the USR said they would not vote for Vestea's cabinet, while the ethnic Hungarian UDMR party, also a member of the former ruling coalition, said its support cannot come at the cost of splintering the Liberals.

"Vestea's prospects hinge on his ability to exploit existing divisions within the centrist parties," Eurasia Group said in a note. "If enough dissenters ... break ranks, Vestea could assemble a majority—or a workable minority—government." REUTERS