Parliament votes the new government

The government proposed by the Prime Minister designate, Social Democrat Mihai Tudose, was validated on Thursday by Romanias Parliament.

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Florentin Căpitănescu, 29.06.2017, 19:29

The leftist ruling coalition in Romania made up of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) ands the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) managed to impose its new government after the vote of investiture in Parliament. 275 MPs voted for the new executive while 102 voted against it. The new government’s membership includes 16 ministers from the previous cabinet led by Sorin Grindeanu that was dismissed after a no-confidence vote initiated by the main ruling party itself, the Social Democratic Party.

The creation of a position of deputy-prime minister without portfolio to coordinate inter-ministerial activities is the only change in the structure of the cabinet. Marcel Ciolacu has been proposed to take up this new post. Most of the ministers from the Grindeanu cabinet retain their positions, with Sevil Shhaideh staying on as minister for regional development, Olguta Vasilescu as labour minister and Florian Bodog as healthcare minister.

The incumbents of the interior, transport, justice, foreign affairs, the environment and agriculture will also keep their posts in the future cabinet. The Tudose cabinet also contains some new names, such as Mihai Fifor, who has been proposed as economy minister, Adrian Tutuianu as the new defence minister and Doina Pana as the new minister for waters and forests. The Social Democrat Mihai Tudose says his priority is to implement the governing programme under strict, possibly weekly, political control, to make up for the delays. New measures related to fiscal predictability and social protection have also been added to the programme.

Among the objectives of the new cabinet, PM Tudose mentioned increasing the budget revenue collection rate, attracting foreign investors, boosting investments in infrastructure and a higher rate of absorption of European funds. In another development, cabinet ministers will have to prove themselves through deeds, not words, said Mihai Tudose, adding that the first reading of the sovereign development fund will take place in his first cabinet meeting.

Tudose, who previously had 2 terms in office as minister of economy, was chosen by the Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea to replace Sorin Grindeanu who was accused of not having observed the ambitious objectives of the governing program thanks to which the Social Democrats won the December 2016 legislative elections. In turn, Sorin Grindeanu does not seem to have put up with the fact that his own party, PSD, toppled his government. On Thursday he conveyed a letter to the president of Romania’s Constitutional Court, Valer Dorneanu, in which he asks for an investigation into the conditions in which the MPs voted for the motion of no confidence last week.