New Prime Minister designate of Romania

President Klaus Iohannis has announced that Mihai Tudose is the new Prime Minister designate

Corina Cristea, 27.06.2017, 13:37

The former Economy Minister Mihai Tudose, a 50 years old law professional, was the prime minister nomination made by the coalition in power in Romania, the same coalition that last week dismissed its own Cabinet through a no-confidence motion. Officially, the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania were unhappy with PM Grindeanus failure to implement the economic measures in the governing programme. President Iohannis summarised the countrys political situation as follows:

Klaus Iohannis: “The Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Romania say they still have a majority in Parliament. These 2 parties made a joint proposal for the new PM, namely Mr. Tudose. The opposition parties, for the most part, had no specific nominations for the prime minister post, nor did the consultations indicate that they had a political agreement in this respect. Meanwhile, this political crisis that we are experiencing affects Romania severely. It damages Romanias economy and it damages Romanias image, and it is my belief that this crisis must end very soon. We need a new government as soon as possible, and the new government should set out to solve the problems which are still unresolved, and which have been triggered by this crisis that emerged within the Social Democratic Party.

Mihai Tudose is familiar with the mechanisms of economy and is able to manage the work of the government, the Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea promised.

On the other hand, Mihai Tudoses critics, even from within his own party, say he is not quite the right man for the job. They mention that a while ago Mihai Tudose gave up his doctoral degree after having been accused of plagiarism in his PhD thesis. Also, allegations have been made regarding Tudoses ties with the Romanian Intelligence Service. The institution has firmly denied these speculations in a new release, stating the Intelligence Service is not involved in political disputes or in any activities outside its role defined by the law.

The ruling coalition has decided to step up procedures, so that the new Cabinet may be sworn in by the end of this week.