Romanian president Nicușor Dan nominates independent Luca Niculescu as prime minister
Currently a secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Niculescu has never been and is not a member of a political party.
Radu Dumitrescu · Journalist
· 4 min read
Romanian president Nicușor Dan appointed independent Luca Niculescu on Monday, October 5, to “harmonize positions” expressed by political parties and form a new government.
“The choice came following today’s consultations. I chose the person who has the best chances of securing a majority. Over the past four years, he has been working on Romania’s accession process to the OECD; he has worked for the Romanian state,” Nicușor Dan said.
Niculescu will now have to hold talks with parliamentary parties and form a majority “deeply anchored in the Western direction,” according to the PM-designate.
“I will hold talks with the parliamentary parties to build a majority and agree on a realistic government program. I will not promise miracles, but what I can promise is seriousness in the use of public money, predictability for the economy, respect for commitments, accelerating reforms and a state that functions as well as possible,” Niculescu said.
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Who is Luca Niculescu?
Born on April 25, 1971, in Bucharest, Luca Niculescu graduated from the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences at the University of Bucharest (1995) and holds a master’s degree in European Journalism from the University Centre for Journalism in Strasbourg (1996).
According to Digi24, between 1992 and 2016, Luca Niculescu worked as a journalist. He was editor-in-chief of RFI Romania, as well as a program host on several television stations: Money Channel, TVR 1, Digi24. Mainly specialized in international relations, he had a weekly column in Dilema Veche for five years. At the same time, he was a permanent correspondent in Romania for French media outlets (France Info, France Culture, France Inter, TV5, and the daily newspaper Libération).
Between 2016 and 2022, Luca Niculescu was Romania’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France, the Principality of Monaco and the Principality of Andorra. In this capacity, he also represented Romania in relations with international organizations based in Paris, particularly the OECD and the International Organisation of La Francophonie. He was also president of the Group of Francophone Ambassadors in France (GAFF) between 2019 and 2022.
Since September 2022, Luca Niculescu has been secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Coordinator for Romania’s accession process to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
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