Former USR leader Dan Barna says his party will “definitely have” a candidate in the 2024 presidential election, but “that’s a long way off” now. Barna recently held a press conference in Timisoara together with Mayor Dominique Fritz, a former leader of the USR, who also said that there are currently no votes for the party to submit a vote of no confidence, as the moment is “not very close”.

When asked during the press conference if he sees Dominik Fritz as a candidate for the 2024 presidential election, Dan Barna evaded the answer, saying that USR will definitely have a candidate in this election:

• “Of course, the UDR will have a presidential candidate, but this topic is distant. Today’s topic is the energy crisis, and it’s our ability as a country to overcome the crisis when we have a government and a president who are not pulling in the same direction.”

Dan Barna was the USR-PLUS candidate in the 2019 presidential election and came third behind Klaus Iohannis (PNL) and Viorika Denchile (PSD) with 15.02% of the vote (1,384,450 votes).

President Yohannis is nowhere to be seen, he continues this policy of non-committal absence and indifference

At the same press conference, Dan Barna attacked President Klaus Iohannis, saying that he is absent from public debate on the most important issues and is continuing a “policy of non-committal absence”, while Romania is in an unprecedented crisis, according to News.ro:

• “At the moment, Romania is in an unprecedented crisis. The good life, which can be said to have been on the European continent, to some extent also in Romania, will radically change.
• And because of the war in Ukraine, and especially because of this energy crisis, which significantly affects all social strata – from ordinary citizens to large companies. We will see bankruptcies, the picture is very clear.”

The ex-leader of the USSR criticized the head of state, saying that all this time President Klaus Iohannis has been absent from public debates on the most important issues:

• “President Yohannis is nowhere to be found, he continues the policy of non-committal absence and constant indifference, which in peacetime was tolerated in the form of bitter humor.
• In times like these, the fact that the president is completely absent from the public debate on the most important topics is a problem that shows how wrong Romanians got in the last election.”

About the vote of no confidence: At the moment we are realists, there are no votes

Asked if the USR would table a vote of no confidence in parliament, Dan Barna said his party currently does not have the necessary votes:

• “There is distrust… we will look at the sessions, probably we will submit a proposal.
• At the moment, we are realistic, there are no votes of no confidence, so it is not very close. This is a parliamentary tool, we will try to use it, but we are realistic.”

Regarding the simple submission on energy submitted by the USR to the parliament and which will be debated next week, Barna said that it has every chance of being accepted, given that the Social Democrats hold Virgil Popescu responsible for not investing in the sector.