New government secures parliamentary backing

Romania’s left-wing opposition ousted former Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu’s cabinet after a wave of public anger against spending cuts and tax rises, the second government to fall in just over two months

June 2012 - From the Print Edition

The new government sealed parliamentary backing last month with a comfortable majority, giving it a mandate to keep an IMF-led deal on track until the election in November.
The newly-appointed PM, 39-year-old Victor Ponta, and his Social Liberal Union (USL) control 232 of the 460 seats in Parliament and also gained support from ethnic minorities’ parties and the National Union for Romanian Progress (UNPR), which was part of the previous coalition. This gives it a clear majority with 284 votes in favor and 92 against, which pundits say could herald more stability in Romanian politics.
Although Ponta says he is committed to the EUR 5 billion agreement with international lenders, investors are still wary of his proposals to ease austerity by restoring public sector wages, which had been cut as part of a package of austerity measures. In the new cabinet, the vice PM’s post was assigned to economist Florin Georgescu.
The only member of the previous regime to remain in his position is Leonard Orban, the minister of European affairs. The National Liberals were awarded seven ministerial briefs, including economy, defense, labor, transport, tourism and culture, while the Social Democrats have taken control of justice, interior, education, environment, and communications.
The agriculture brief was given to a Conservative official while health went to Vasile Cepoi, previously secretary in the same ministry in the Boc cabinet. Cepoi is said to be the biggest surprise in the Ponta cabinet, as he was the architect of the new health law. In the Boc and Ungureanu cabinets, Cepoi led a team of specialists to align the proposals to change the health law.