RO PM-designate will not replace candidates rejected by Parliament’s committees

Three of the 16 ministers proposed by Romania’s prime minister-designate Ludovic Orban were not validated by the Parliament’s specialty committees after hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Florin Citu, Orban’s proposal for the Finance Ministry, Ion Stefan (Regional Development Ministry) and Violeta Alexandru (Labor Ministry) failed to get the MPs’ endorsement.

However, PM-designate Orban said he would not give up on the nominations and go in front of the Parliament with his initial team. He suggested that the ministers who failed to get favorable opinions from the committees were rejected on political grounds, not for lacking the necessary qualities for the jobs.

"It would mean to deny my entire 30-year political career. I do not accept the PSD’s assessment of a candidate for a minister I proposed. It was a political vote," Orban said at the Parliament Palace, quoted by Mediafax.

Ludovic Orban’s team includes 16 ministers and a deputy prime minister without portfolio (Raluca Turcan).

The vote on the new Government is scheduled to take place on Monday, November 4.

Orban is optimistic that he will get the votes needed for his cabinet to pass. Cristina Burciu, an MP of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), announced on Wednesday that she would vote the Orban Government, arguing that Romania can’t afford a government crisis.

This is a signal that other PSD MPs may also decide to vote the new Government, despite warnings from the party’s leadership that all who do so will be excluded.

(Photo: Ilona Andrei/ Inquam Photos)