Nicușor Dan starts nightmare new job as president of Romania 

BUCHAREST — Romania’s election winner Nicușor Dan will be sworn in as the country’s president on Monday and will immediately face a juggling act from hell as he grapples with serious economic trouble and a legacy of political strife.

After defying the odds to beat hard-right radical George Simion in the May 18 second-round vote for the presidency, independent Bucharest mayor Dan will start work on forming a new government with talks among the pro-European political parties in Romania’s parliament.

That process, and the appointment a new prime minister, could take several weeks. Once it is finalized Dan’s new government will have a seriously painful inbox to tackle. Here, POLITICO breaks down his biggest headaches: 

Forming a stable government 

Dan has said he’ll work with the pro-European parties in the parliament, although the largest among them — the Social Democratic Party (PSD) — is weighing whether it would rather play an opposition role. Dan wants to make respected interim President Ilie Bolojan his prime minister, and to frame his priority as cutting the government’s budget deficit to 7.5 percent of GDP. 

If the PSD declines to join a ruling coalition, those goals may need to be pursued via a minority government, which would make the new administration inherently less stable and a riskier prospect for nervous investors.

"Romania risks a sovereign rating downgrade, is under [an] EU excessive deficit procedure, and faces serious market trust issues," said Elena Calistru, co-founder and president of Funky Citizens, a civic NGO in Bucharest. "Dan must use his newly acquired political capital to facilitate difficult fiscal reforms through a coherent economic team."

That means nominating a prime minister who can command a parliamentary majority focused on fiscal reforms. "Romania desperately needs to send strong signals to both markets and the European Commission that it is ready to implement serious fiscal discipline measures," Calistru added.  

Leading Romania in Europe 

With a population of 19 million, a massive NATO presence — including what will soon be the Alliance's largest European base — and a critical strategic position on the Black Sea bordering Ukraine, Romania ought to be a vital partner for Western interests, especially in Brussels. 

Dan told POLITICO he wanted to play a more “active” role in EU affairs, including negotiating the bloc’s seven-year budget. Unlike his political opponents, he strongly backs continuing aid to Ukraine and strengthening the EU’s autonomous defense capabilities, at a time when Donald Trump’s United States is threatening to step back. 

“Dan's analytical approach could prove valuable in these complex negotiations at a time when eastern Europe is becoming increasingly central to European security architecture,” said Calistru. “This is also an opportunity to rebuild Romania's credibility in Brussels after years of fiscal slippage.”

Otilia Nuțu, a public policy analyst at Bucharest-based think tank Expert Forum, said it was time for Romania to have “a stronger voice” in Brussels.

“Romania is a large EU member state, and we should be playing a much more active role than we have so far.” Nuțu added: “We don’t know how long we can count on U.S. support, and it’s crucial that we become a voice pushing for European unity. The president must clearly state that Ukraine’s victory in the war is an existential issue for us.” 

That should include pushing for the confiscation of frozen Russian assets and their transfer to Ukraine to finance defense and reconstruction, Nuțu said.

Restoring faith in democracy

Dan himself has said he wants to revive the nation’s faith in democracy, which was already weak and then suffered a disastrous blow after last year’s presidential election was canceled amid claims of foreign interference. 

That task will include dealing with corruption at all levels, appointing robust new judges and prosecutors, and breaking the stranglehold of established political parties like the PSD and the National Liberal Party (PNL) on the way politics works. 

Political parties in the country are seen as corrupt and self-serving, said Oana Popescu-Zamfir, a former government adviser in Romania and an expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “Politics in general is seen as something you do if you want to get rich or you want to gain influence; it’s not seen as a legitimate job or profession in many ways,” she said. “It’s an open question how Nicușor Dan is going to be able to work with the parties, but he has done it as mayor. What people are noting these days is his huge capacity to learn.” 

Dan told POLITICO that there is “pressure from society” on “the old political class” to reform the way it operates after years of failure. “I think that they understood that they have to change something, some important things,” he said.