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Romania's technocrat cabinet takes office

Xinhua, November 18, 2015

• Romania's new Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos and the ministers of his Cabinet took the oath of office late Tuesday at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace, in front of President Klaus Iohannis.

  Romania's prime minister-designate Dacian Ciolos is seen at Romanian Parliament during the validation vote session in Bucharest, Romania, Nov. 17, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

  This government has absolutely all legitimacy, through the investiture vote in parliament, Iohannis stressed at the swearing-in ceremony.

  "You can go right away to put into practice your projects, programs, policies to the benefit of Romania," said Iohannis, underscoring that this independent technocrat government is a "step towards the political class reconnected to the voters, towards the political class people want."

  The new government, the third technocrat one since 1989 when Romania shifted to the current political system, was validated with 389 votes in favor, 115 against and two abstentions in a joint plenary session of the bicameral legislature, much more than the required half plus one of the total MPs, thus 274 votes in favor.

  The against votes came mainly from the ALDE parliamentary group, composed of the Liberal Reformist Party and the Conservative Party, as well as from the People's Movement whose leaders publicly said they would oppose the new cabinet.

  "This government emerges in an exceptional social and political context," Ciolos told the parliament before voting, adding that "the confidence in the political class, in the state authorities seems weakened and the people, now more than ever in the last 25 years, expect a change of the way that the public interest is managed."

  "This government's task will be to create the required framework, a politically neutral one, that should lay the foundation of such structural transformation," stressed Ciolos, adding that "we pledge a set of concrete measures that, while limited in number, have systemic impact and importance."

  Ciolos also told the lawmakers that his technocrats' executive cannot govern without the political parties democratically represented in the legislature.

  "We do not wish to and we cannot replace the political class," he said, declaring that "my and my team's wish is to create the prerequisites of a new project of the accelerated development of Romania equal to the huge potential of the country and we can only do this together."

  The cabinet led by Ciolos is composed of two deputy prime ministers, 16 ministers, 3 ministers-delegate and the prime minister's chancellery chief. The two deputy prime ministers also hold the posts of minister of economy, minister of regional development and public administration respectively.

  The Ciolos government, composed of technocrats "picked up from the private sector, from the Romanian, European or international administration as well as from the civil society," has broad support in the Parliament's investiture, yet, it would be a big challenge for the prime minister to get along with the various parliamentary parties which have different or even opposing political views, according to analysts here.

  Even the president admitted that the Ciolos Cabinet will have a difficult task.

  "Achieving the assumed objectives in the government programme will not be possible without substantial parliamentary support," Iohannis wrote on Facebook soon after the new cabinet received parliament's vote of confidence.

  Ciolos himself indicated that for any important project, his cabinet will have consultations with parliament in the preparation stage for majorities to start building up.

  Ciolos was appointed on Tuesday by President Klaus Iohannis as prime minister-designate to form a technocrat government, after his predecessor Victor Ponta announced giving up the premiership in the wake of massive demonstrations that demanded political responsibility from the authorities, for a nightclub fire on Oct. 30 that killed at least 55 people and injured over 100 others.

  Ciolos, a 46-year-old agronomist, was agriculture minister from 2007 to 2008, and EU agriculture commissioner from 2010 to 2014. In July 2015, he was named by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker as special adviser on international food security.

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