Seven out of eight minister candidates endorsed by Romanian lawmakers

Seven out of the eight minister candidates heard by the Romanian Parliament’s expert committees were endorsed, and only the candidate for the finance minister post, Florin Citu, was rejected.

After his hearing in the expert committee, MP Florin Citu declared that the vote was given on political grounds and furthermore the president of the committee has interpreted the tie vote (19 members supported him and 19 voted against him) as a vote against him.

The hearings in the budget-finance committee was marked by sharp remarks between minister candidate Citu and acting finance minister Eugen Teodorovici, who made several offensive remarks. One in particular drew the media’s attention. “I like whores but not in politics,” Teodorovici was heard saying, according to Digi24.ro. He denied saying that.

The Parliament’s expert committees started hearing the minister candidates proposed by prime minister-designate Ludovic Orban, on Tuesday, October 29, and will complete the process on Wednesday. Marcel Bolos (proposed as EU funds minister), Victor Costache (health minister), Nicolae Ciuca (defense minister), Marcel Vela (interior minister), Bogdan Gheorghiu (culture minister), Nechita-Adrian Oros (agriculture minister), and Costel Alexe (environment minister), were all validated by the expert committees.

The minister candidates need to be endorsed before the final vote on the cabinet is given next Monday, on November 4. However, PM-designate Ludovic Orban can choose to keep in his team all ministers, including those who fail to get the committees’ endorsement.

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