President to announce the new PM today | Former European Agriculture Commissioner in the cards

Dacian Ciolos, an agriculture specialist that has worked in the European Commission for five years, may be Romania's next Prime Minister. The President will make the official announcement at 17:00, according to Digi 24 news station. Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis will announce the new Prime Minister’s name today after he finishes the second round of consultations with the local political parties, according to former PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu, co-president of the Liberal Democratic Alliance (ALDE). Tariceanu said that ALDE didn’t agree to a technocrat government, which was the most likely choice. “The option that takes shape is that of a technocrat government, in which a technocrat Prime Minister will have the freedom to choose his ministers based on integrity criteria,” said Kelemen Hunor, the president of the Magyar Democratic Union (UDMR). Most of the political parties represented in the Parliament have warmed up to the idea of a technocrat Government rather than having early elections, following the second round of talks at Cotroceni. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) said it would vote for a technocrat Government and proposed former budget minister Liviu Voinea for the job. The National Liberal Party (PNL) said it would support a technocrat Government as long as the president didn’t go for PSD’s proposal and come up with a different name. Romania’s former European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos has been credited with the highest chances of landing the President’s nomination, as he is both a specialist and has no political affiliation. Ciolos, 46, is a horticultural engineer by profession. He also holds degrees in the economy of agricultural development from the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Rennes and from the University of Montpellier 1, where he earned a master's in 1997 and a doctorate in 2006. He was Agriculture Minister in Calin Popescu Tariceanu’s cabinet from October 2007 until December 2008, and Agriculture Commissioner in Jose Manuel Barroso’s European Commission from February 2010 until November 2014. In July 2015, Barroso's successor Jean-Claude Juncker named Ciolos as his special adviser on international food security. ING: Technocrat Government, most probable scenario in Romania Romania’s President is looking for a new Prime Minister. Who could that be? editor@romania-insider.com