President of the Senate Ilie Bolojan to take over as interim President of the Cotroceni

The president of the Senate, the liberal leader, Ilie Bolojan will ensure the interim position at Cotroceni Palace after President Klaus Iohannis announced his resignation, and will leave office on 12 February.   According to Article 98 of the Constitution, "if the office of President becomes vacant or if the President is suspended from office or is temporarily unable to fulfil his duties, the President of the Senate or the President of the Chamber of Deputies shall act as interim President, in that order."   There are attributions which cannot be exercised during the interim of the presidential position.   The interim president cannot address messages to the Parliament on the main political issues of the nation.   Similarly, the interim president cannot dissolve parliament, cannot call a referendum.   Otherwise, the interim president can exercise attibutions in the domain of foreign policy, defence, as regards introducing exceptional measures, may confer decorations and grant individual pardons.   National Liberal Party (PNL) Chairman Ilie Bolojan on Monday evening said that he was going to suspend his party membership, as he will assume the position of acting President of Romania, mentioning that in the meeting of the National Political Bureau, he will propose Catalin Predoiu as the interim leader of the party."Tonight we had a preparatory meeting, considering that, following the resignation of the president of Romania, the president of the Senate is supposed to take over this role as interim. As such, according to constitutional provisions, he can no longer be a member of a political party, and in this capacity, I am obliged to suspend myself from the position of National Liberal Party chairman and from being a PNL member. Tomorrow afternoon, there will be a meeting of the National Political Bureau where, as we discussed today, a new interim leader will be elected, and my proposal tomorrow will be that Mr. Catalin Predoiu, the first vice-president of the party, takes over this role," Bolojan said after the party leadership meeting with branch leaders.Bolojan also mentioned that a decision will be made on Tuesday regarding the replacement for the president of the Senate."Also, tomorrow, a decision will be made regarding the replacement of the president of the Senate, and after consulting the group of senators, we will make a proposal in this regard tomorrow," added the liberal leader.He further said that the basic elements of the electoral campaign for presidential candidate Crin Antonescu have been established."This evening, together with my colleagues, we established the basic elements of the campaign that the National Liberal Party will run in the upcoming period to support Mr. Crin Antonescu for the position of president of Romania, and these elements will be communicated in the coming days by colleagues who will ensure the party's leadership," Bolojan said.He also mentioned that on Tuesday, he would make statements related to the role of acting president of the country.