Romania’s outgoing President Klaus Iohannis is expected to nominate leftist Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu to form a new government on Monday after three pro-European parties agreed on the details of their parliamentary majority.
The Social Democrat Party (PSD) will hold eight cabinet positions, including Justice, Transport, Labor and Defence, and most of its current ministers will remain in their posts.
The centrist Liberal Party (PNL) will hold six cabinet jobs, including the ministries of Energy and the Interior and Foreign Affairs. The ethnic Hungarian party UDMR will have two posts, including finance.
The three parties, along with representatives of local ethnic minorities, will have a slight majority in the legislature, with the three ultra-nationalist and far-right parties winning more than a third of the seats in December. 1 Parliamentary elections.
The new government will need to approve a calendar for new two-round presidential elections. The three parties involved in the coalition have agreed to support a single presidential candidate in an effort to prevent a representative of the radical right from winning.
The original three-round vote to elect a new president and parliament in the EU and NATO state, which shares its longest land border with Ukraine, was thrown into chaos when a little-known far-right pro-Russian politician attempted to become the first president. Won the round. On 24th November.
His shock victory prompted Romania’s top court to cancel the election on suspicion of Russian interference and order it to be rerun, possibly in the first half of 2025.
Romania’s new Cabinet will have the challenging task of reducing the budget deficit from an expected 8.6% of economic output this year – the EU’s largest – to about 7% in 2025 and what ratings agencies and analysts expect will be tax hikes.
