PNL leader Crin Antonescu interferes with ex-PNL president Calin-Popescu Tariceanu striking an alliance with the newly elect president Traian Basescu. Elsewhere in the news, the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania wants to govern, but only alongside PNL. Romania is looking for 1.2 billion euros to pay up salaries and pensions in January, the Romanian press reads. Last but not least, Moody's could modify Romania's rating from "stable" to "negative" if the IMF agreement doesn’t restart soon.

The Romanian press reads Liberal Party Crin Antonescu interferes with ex-PNL president Calin-Popescu Tariceanu striking an alliance with the newly elect president Traian Basescu. According to Evenimentul Zilei, Antonescu blocked the understanding made by Tariceanu and Basescu over the phone. Some local PNL leaders are allegedly making up the broken ties with PD-L, for fear they would remain in the opposition.

PD-L and PNL governed as coalition during Basescu's first presidential mandate, with Tariceanu as PM, but the alliance broke up. According to EVZ, Tariceanu called Basescu during the elections and informed his party members he wanted the party to govern, which was faced with criticism by the majority of his colleagues. Crin Antonescu told Tariceanu to inform Basescu that PNL's president changed and it is him the President should talk to.

Crin Antonescu has declared that he excludes any coalition with the lib-dems, but Tariceanu says a party is not bound only to a personal opinion. Tariceanu asked his colleagues not to decide exclusively based on their "hate for Basescu". He added that PNL must not be "PSD's puppy".

The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) wants to govern, but alongside PNL, Romania Libera reads. UDMR did not seem thrilled about an alliance with the lib-dems. But party officials declared that they will not govern either with the left or with the right, unless the liberals join them.

UDMR's executive vice-president Laszlo Borbely stated that the decision hangs on the newly elect President and that a final decision will be taken on Tuesday. According to Romania Libera, in Arad (West), UDMR's electorate voted massively for the lib-dems and, unofficially, PD-L shook hands with UDMR.

The coalition between the two parties has a local tradition: the mayor is PD-L, while they city has an UDMR vice-mayor. A similar situation is recorded in Cluj (Centre), where the UDMR vice-mayor declared that it was important for Romania to have a Government and a stable parliamentary majority as soon as possible. But he did not exclude a minority Government either.

One billion euros a month: the Romanian state is looking for 1.2 billion euros for January, Cotidianul reads. According to the publication, the 1.42 billion euros loaned in November have almost dried up and the state needs to get 1.2 billion euros to pay salaries, pensions, subventions and social aids in the month to come. The Romanian Public Finance Ministry started the borrowing programme for January.

According to Finance state secretary Gheorghe Gherghina, the money borrowed in November were spent to cover December's budget deficit and are held by the Treasury in an account at the Central Bank (BNR). According to the IMF agreement, Romania is allowed a 7.3% budget deficit by the end of the year. By the end of November, the deficit amounted to 6% of the GDP.

Moody's could modify Romania's rating from "stable" to "negative" if the IMF agreement is not reinforced in the first quarter of 2010,Gandulreads, quoting Moody's analyst Kenneth Orchards's declaration for Romanian news agency Mediafax.

"If the IMF and the European Union programme is not restarted in the next year's first quarter and if the Government's liquidity remains under pressure, we may take into consideration changing the rating perspective to 'negative'. Nevertheless, our basic scenario sees the Government re-starting the IMF and EU programme and the funds' allocation in time", Orchard said. The analyst believes that, once the presidential elections finalised, a new Government can be formed without too many problems.