A new Government in Bucharest

The Liberal Government was sworn in on Monday

Daniela Budu, 05.11.2019, 13:55

Starting today
you’ll have a new partner in the Romanian Government, a trusted partner ready
to join your efforts to realize your vision of a developed Romania, to carry
out the programs and projects that will bring Romania on the right track, the
new Liberal Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Monday as his new Cabinet was
sworn into office. Orban labeled the no-confidence motion that toppled the
Social-Democrat Government led by Viorica Dancila, followed by the investiture
of his new Cabinet as miracles, since they were both the effort of wider
cross-party cooperation. The new Government will engage in permanent dialogue
and will take into account Romanians’ expectations, Orban promised, referring
to the priorities of his term in office:

We have a
difficult task ahead, the situation is quite dire for Romania. We have
stringent matters to deal with, a lot of projects that have been stalled so far
and have prevented Romania’s development, from transport infrastructure
projects to investment in the sanitation network, the unblocking of competitive
procedures in procurement programs, the modernization of the army and the allotment
of 2% of the GDP to defense spending, as per our commitment.

High on the new
government’s agenda are the organization of the presidential election this
month, both at home and abroad, the last budget adjustment scheduled for 2019
as well as the state budget for 2020. As compared to the previous
Social-Democrat Government, the Liberals have opted for only 16 Ministries.
Lawyer Catalin Predoiu will take over the Justice Ministry, career diplomat
Bogdan Aurescu will be the new Foreign Minister while General Nicolae Ciuca
will serve as Defense Minister. Ludovic Orban’s Cabinet will stay in office for
a year, until the legislative election due next year in autumn, despite the
possibility of holding snap elections. President Klaus Iohannis has
congratulated the members of the new Cabinet, arguing their term will be short,
but difficult. The President wants the Liberals to implement their projects and
solve some urgent matters.

I expect this new Government to deal with some pressing issues: closing the
budget for 2019, drafting the 2020 state budget, re-launching talks over the
justice laws, because what the Social-Democrats have changed in the judiciary
needs to be remedied. The fight anti-corruption must be upheld, and the
presidential election needs to be organized in a transparent, lawful and
effective manner. This will all require a great deal of commitment.

On her part,
outgoing Social-Democrat Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said the
Social-Democratic Party will become a powerful opposition party.

We will take
our new role very seriously. And since we talk about responsibility and
commitment, I want to make it clear that, as per the decision of the National
Executive Committee, all those who voted against the party’s intentions have
already been excluded from the party ranks.

We recall that
several Social-Democrat MPs have voted both the no-confidence vote against the
Dancila Cabinet and the investiture of Ludovic Orban’s Cabinet.

(Translated by V. Palcu)