Niculescu elected: Romania has a new government after five and a half months

Five and a half months after the fall of the cabinet of Ilie Bolojan, Romania is again receiving a regular government. The Parliament in Bucharest on Tuesday elected Luca Niculescu as the new Prime Minister of the country. The former journalist and diplomat received 280 votes in the afternoon vote. This put him 47 votes above the required majority of 233 votes. 55-year-old Niculescu is partyless. But the new government is dominated by the Romanian Social Democrats (PSD). The party provides in the new Cabinet eleven of 17 Ministers. This returns the PSD, which together with the far-right AUR party overthrew the minority government of National Liberal Bolojan in May, to government responsibility. The other ministers are non-partisan. Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare already belonged to Bolojan’s cabinet and has a past in his national liberal party, the PNL. From tomorrow onwards, we will deal directly with the urgent tasks I have never belonged to a political party. However, I understand very well that a government cannot function without parliamentary support and without dialogue with the parties, Niculescu said before his election in Parliament. At the same time, he promised: “From tomorrow, we will be directly dedicated to the urgent tasks.” In particular, he mentioned Romania’s budget deficit, which is the highest within the EU, accounting for just over 8% of gross domestic product. Niculescu said, The best way to get out of this trap is economic growth. More investment, more companies producing in Romania, more people working. With the emphasis on growth, he set himself apart from his predecessor Bolojan, who promoted savings and structural reforms. Bolojan increased VAT, froze statutory pensions and cut jobs in the public sector. The latter was, according to a common reading in Romania, the trigger why the PSD Bolojan, which is considered a power party with considerable influence on the distribution of resources, overthrew. Paradoxically, the party of Bolojan, who was overthrown by the Social Democrats, supported the establishment of the new cabinet dominated by the PSD. "This vote would not have been given by our party under normal circumstances, given the composition of this government, but Romania needs a functioning government after more than five months of political crisis so that individual institutions and basic public services do not collapse," he said. At the same time, Bolojan stressed that he had “low expectations of this government”. The election of a new government under the leadership of compromise candidate Niculescu may also have contributed to the fact that, after another failure of a prime ministerial election, Romanian President Nicușor Dan could have dissolved the parliament. According to surveys, a new election could win the far-right AUR by a clear margin. Some politicians did not want to take this risk because of Russia’s war against Ukraine. War is approaching with drone attacks in the Black Sea.