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ROMANIA: Ciuca Confirmed As PM Following Parliamentary Vote

CEE

The Romanian parliament has voted in favour of Senator Nicolae Ciuca forming a new gov't. The administration will be a 'grand coalition', formed by Ciuca's centre-right National Liberal Party (PNL), the centre-left Social Democrats (PSD) and the Hungarian minority-interest Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR).

  • The PNL-PSD alliance has caused uproar among some sections of the PNL, with former PM Ludovic Orban leaving the party, saying that "As of today, for me, the PNL has died in bed with the PSD".
  • Ciuca, a former military chief and defence minister, will sit as PM for a year and a half. Power will then be transferred to a PSD representative. Despite Ciuca sitting as PM, the PSD will act as the senior coalition partner given that it has more representatives in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate.
  • There is no guarantee the coalition will last its full term until March 2025, given the historical animosity between the PNL and PSD and the instabilty that has caused significant prime minsiterial turnover in Romanian politics in recent years.
  • Combatting the coronavirus remains the key priority for the gov't, with Romania experiencing one of the worst case, hospitalisation, and death spike of any country worldwide. If or when this comes back under control is when the strength of the foundations of the gov't coalition will be tested.

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