PSD's Grindeanu:Things seem to be going in the right direction after consultations with president Dan

The interim president of the PSD (Social Democratic Party), Sorin Grindeanu, on Thursday stated, following consultations with president Nicusor Dan, that in terms of economic measures and the political agreement, things seem to be going in the right, constructive direction, and he specified that the Social Democrats will have an extended meeting at the party to discuss if they are going to join the future government or not, on Friday.

"We have concluded this official round of consultations with president Nicusor Dan. We have presented him our party's internal calendar, in order to let him know that tomorrow we will have an extended consultation within the party, with almost 5,000 PSD members, followed by a vote, and that on Saturday, if this consultation leads to the conclusion that we need to become part of the future government, we will hold a meeting of the National Political Committee where we will vote on the team of ministers that PSD will propose. We have told him that based on what has been discussed in these past weeks in terms of economic measures and political agreement, at this point things seem to be going in the right, constructive direction, but that will be decided by our party members tomorrow, when we present all these things related to economic measures and the political agreement as discussed until today," Grindeanu said at the Cotroceni Palace.

Asked about the possible increase in the value added tax, Grindeanu said: "From the beginning, we came up with proposals that did not lead to an increase in VAT. Of course, these proposals were highly criticised, but (...) to balance this deficit, we must go in three directions - on the one hand, reducing state spending, secondly, prioritising investments, thirdly, we need to bring additional revenues. Everyone agreed with these three main directions."

He reiterated the constitutional steps, namely the appointment of the prime minister who will subsequently discuss with the parties. "Let's wait for these discussions. We, from this point of the fiscal measures, have come up with solutions. We are interested in keeping low and medium incomes, whether we are talking about pensions or salaries, from decreasing. This is something that the PSD is starting from," said the leader of the Social Democrats.

According to Grindeanu, at the end of Thursday "a plan of measures assumed by everyone will be issued."

As for the chances of a four-party government coalition, the PSD president said that at the moment the chances are 80% - 90%.

"We are still in this scenario, with everyone wanting a broad coalition, and we, especially, at the Social Democratic Party, want the UDMR (the Democratic Union of Hungarians of Romania) to be part of this coalition," said Sorin Grindeanu.

President Nicusor Dan is holding consultations with parliamentary parties and political formations on Thursday to designate the candidate for the position of prime minister.