Romania’s appointed Prime Minister announces his cabinet of specialists

Romania’s appointed Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos announced on Sunday the list of ministers for his Government. He kept the cabinet structure, which includes 21 seats. He said he aimed to draw in his team people that had skills and experience as well as vision and ideas. “I wanted (my ministers) to be professional, honest, open to dialog, and I will go with them in front of the Parliament, on Monday and Tuesday, for hearings,” Ciolos said, briefly presenting each cabinet member. A third of his ministers are women, including the Finance Minister, Anca Dana Dragu Paliu, who will probably have the toughest job in the following months, as she needs to come up with a balanced budget and with measure to compensate for the generosity of the previous Government and of the Parliament in cutting taxes and increasing public workers’ wages. The nominated Finance Minister had started her career at Romania’s National Bank (BNR) and had worked for 11 years as an economist in the International Monetary Fund – IMF’s local office, before being recruited to work for the European Commission in 2013. She is 42 and she graduated the Economic Studies Academy (ASE) in Bucharest. Dacian Ciolos chose an experienced manager to lead the Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Tourism, Costin Grigore Borc, the general manager of cement producer CRH, the former Lafarge Romania. Borc, 50, is an engineer. He has been the chief of staff for former Prime Minister Radu Vasile, at the end of the ‘90s, and in the past 15 years has worked for French group Lafarge, holding various positions in the US, France, Serbia, and Romania. Borc will also be a deputy prime minister in Ciolos’ cabinet. The other deputy prime minister is Vasile Dancu, a former member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which he left in 2008. Dancu, 54, who has a Ph.D. in sociology, has been teaching at several universities in Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest. He owns a polling institute, IRES, and has been leading a TV group and a weekly magazine called Transylvania Reporter. Dancu will lead the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration. He was PSD’s proposal for Prime Minister. Here are the full list people Dacian Ciolos nominated for his cabinet: Costin Grigore Borc – deputy prime minister and minister of economy, commerce, and tourism Vasile Dîncu - deputy prime minister and minister of regional Development and public administration Lazăr Comănescu – minister of foreign affairs Petre Tobă – minister of internal affairs Mihnea Ioan Motoc – minister of defense Anca Dana Dragu Paliu – minister of finance Achim Irimescu – minister of agriculture and rural development