Adrian Nastase withdrew from the internal race for the party's leadership on grounds that it will not legitimize a divide of the party. He declared that certain leaders, after informal talks created new rules for the organization of the Congress without any official consultations.

Nastase said that PSD member Liviu Dragnea brought the new rules without reuniting the Committee in charge with a new statute.

Here are Nastase's main declarations:

• The National Council is practically dismissed, this is another party in itself. The attributions of the National Council are transferred somewhere else

• I do not plan to legitimize a competition in which I do not believe in

• I have no personal gain, I do not want to fight with some of my colleagues

• This is a competition which is not set on correct rules

• I respect myself too much and I will not compete

• I will remain a member of the party but I do not wish to run for any function in the party

• I want to relieve those who said that my ambition was to have a function in the party

• I do not agree that the Congress needs to be boycotted, but I need to decide if I will enter such a game

• The statute brought by Dragnea dismisses any institutional mechanisms

• That statute has personal objectives