On Monday, the Romanian Parliament expressed its confidence in the government of Prime Minister Marcel Ciolac, whom the President entrusted with its formation in the morning. The new coalition cabinet is composed of the left-wing Social Democrats (PSD), the National Liberal Party (PNL), the small ethnic Hungarian party UDMR and the parliamentary group representing national minorities. TASR informs about it according to the Reuters agency.
240 deputies and senators from the 466-member parliament voted for confidence in the government. It was 143 against them.
“It will not be an easy mandate for the next government. We are aware that we are in the midst of a deep political crisis. It is also a crisis of trust and the goal of this coalition is to regain the trust of the citizens, the trust of the people,” Ciolacu said in his statement on Monday. He also told lawmakers that his government “must be a government of reforms and investments” given the “economically challenging year.”
Sixteen ministerial positions will be redistributed between the coalition parties, which will have a narrow majority of seats in the parliament. Ciolaca’s SPD will occupy eight government positions, including the Ministry of Justice, Transport, Labor and Defense. According to Reuters, most of its current ministers and Prime Minister Ciolaca will remain in their positions. Six ministries will have PNL and two UDMR.
Tactical partnership
The political agreement between the parties is considered a tactical partnership, the goal of which is to shut down far-right nationalists, the AP agency wrote. The new government is expected to be sworn in by President Klaus Iohannis later on Monday.
Babes-Bolyai University political science professor Sergiu Miscoiu thinks that the new government’s chances of completing the entire four-year term are minimal, given the very narrow majority in parliament. According to him, the first test will be the budget for 2025.
Ciolacu has been prime minister since June 2023. In the first round of the recently canceled presidential election, he came third, behind independent far-right candidate Calin Georgesco and pro-European centrist candidate Elena Lasconi, despite poll estimates that he would finish in first place.
Canceled presidential elections
Romania has been plunged into chaos after Georgesca’s surprise victory in the presidential election, according to the AP, as allegations of election law violations and Russian interference surfaced.
A few days before the second round was to take place, the Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round. He came to such a decision after the declassification of intelligence documents, which show that Russia conducted a coordinated campaign on the Internet to support Georgesco.
Ciolacu claims that the new government will try to organize a repeat of the presidential elections as soon as possible. The coalition has already agreed to support a joint pro-European candidate. Their current candidate is Crin Antonescu, the former chairman of the PNL.
