President Traian Basescu consulted with members of the government before noon on Monday but opted not to attend a special government session where a possible postponement of European elections in Romania may be discussed. Basescu left the Government HQ before the launch of the session despite his promise yesterday that he would attend it.

Basescu and PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu were involved in a new clash on Sunday as the Liberal head of government challenged Basescu’s announced decision to attend the talks.

On Friday, Tariceanu called for the postponement of elections where Romanians are due to elect their representatives in the European Parliament, saying the poll would be marred by ongoing political disputes in Bucharest.

These include opposition moves to suspend the President and a presidential proposal - challenged by the opposition - to hold a referendum on the introduction of the uninominal votes in Romanian elections.

The EP elections were so far due to take place on May 13. Tariceanu said they should take place later this year.

According to sources from the Democratic Party-PD and the Hungarian Democrats-UDMR, which also form part of the governing coalition, the two parties would support the idea that the European poll should not be postponed.

Earlier today, coalition talks on Tariceanu’s proposal provided no results as Democrats and Liberals announced they would rather see what the government session resulted in.