Analysis : What does the PNL get from governing with PSD, the biggest political enemy

PNL and PSD discussed on Thursday night, for almost three hours a variant of agreement between the two parties, which could lead to  a majority for the investment of a government with full powers, the main aspects which they reached in principle were that governing for at least two legislatures is necessary in order to finalise the reforms in PNRR and Anghel Saligny and mathematically PNL and PSD have most votes in the parliament.   To find a balance in such an executive PNL-PSD there were discussions about rotation of premiers, every two years, and the first could be Nicolae Ciuca, seen as a technocrat not as a party member, the political sources said.   According to the sources, the Social –Democrats have many dissatisfactions connected to the governing programme announced by PNL, mainly as regards the reforms of salaries and pensions, about which they state they do not observe the legislation adopted in the past by the social-democrat governments, and the introduction of new taxes. It was established, as a principle, that during the period to come, the whole governing will concentrate on the solution to the present crisis, in energy and health, and later they will approach sensitive topics.   Marcel Ciolacu announced that they will work with the specialists in the party to finalise a governing programme which could be accepted by PNL as well, during this weekend.   The liberals, in exchange, hope that PSD will agree with the liberal premier, the variant Nicolae Ciuca as he is accepted by the social-democrats rather than another leader in the PNL, the latter being perceived as a technocrat. The social- democrats require, in exchange, ministries of importance, such as finances, economy, work, where they can implement their projects with social impact.   What the figures in the parliament say and why PNL would rather have governing with PSD than with USR   As regards the governing with PSD, the liberals analyse, beyond the loss of image as they shake hands with the party they criticized during the elections, the advantages of a majority much more than stable in the parliament, with whose help they could achieve even the constitutional reform.   The figures in the parliament show that, at present, a majority PNL-USR-UDMR plus Ludovic Orban’s MPs would gather 243 votes. PNL has at present 117 MPs, USR – 80 MPs and UDMR – 29 MPs while 17 MPs are dissociated from PNL but they would support the variant of a government in the formula of the former coalition, but without Florin Citu as premier. With the minorities, who are 18, there would be 261 votes for the formula PNL-USR-UDMR, so 27 votes over the necessary of 234 to pass the government. It is an unstable majority, taking into consideration there is no guarantee that the MPs of the minorities would support this government.   In exchange, the majority PNL with PSD would gather 274 votes, so 40 votes more than necessary for the investment of the government which is 234 votes. PSD has 157 MPs and PNL 117.   If we add UDMR and the minorities, there is a majority of 321 votes, more than comfortable to adopt the draft laws and most important, to pass the government. A statement of the prime-vice chairman PNL Gheorghe Flutur at the latest PNL meeting, according to whom the least evil must be chosen, this could explain the PNL decision to go with the social-democrats for governing.   Thus, being in free fall in surveys, the liberals hope that, by getting PSD in the government to stop the growth of this party who will be responsible for all the non-populist measures which will be taken in the crisis. USR in the opposition does not bother them too much, as they have no potential to grow so much.   Through such a decision. PNL hopes to put an end to a political crisis where the party is the main loser and the one that gets all criticism. But, on a medium and long term, they hope to get rid of an extremely vocal opponent, namely PSD which will have no reason to attack them anymore as they will be part of the government.