Romania's president appoints finance minister to form new Government

Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis appointed acting finance minister Florin Citu, a member of the National Liberal Party (PNL), as prime minister-designate to form a new Government, after consultations with the parliamentary parties on Wednesday, February 26.

The president’s decision came after Romania’s Constitutional Court (CCR) ruled that the appointment of dismissed prime minister Ludovic Orban to form a new cabinet and go to the Parliament, only to fail in getting the vote of a majority, generated a constitutional conflict between the Parliament and Presidency. CCR also requested that the president nominates a prime minister who will try to coagulate a majority in the Parliament.

President Iohannis once again blamed the Social Democrats (PSD) for the political deadlock.

Unofficial sources quoted by G4media.ro suggested that, if the lawmakers reject the cabinet proposed by Florin Citu, the Liberals and president Iohannis will once again nominate Ludovic Orban, in an attempt to force early elections.

Florin Citu, one of the most radical critics of the PSD, failed to get the endorsement of the Parliament’s committees for the finance minister position twice. Thus, he may have difficulties in getting the vote of a majority in the Parliament, especially given that most parties are not willing to support another Liberal Government.

PSD, which has the most seats in the Parliament, has already announced it would not vote a Government led by Citu. “I think it's a joke. First of all, it is a defiance to the Parliament,” PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu commented, according to Europa Libera.

Who is Florin Citu, the new PM-designate?

Born in 1972, Florin Citu holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Grinnell College in the US, a master's degree in economics and a doctoral degree in macroeconomics and international economics from Iowa State University. He worked as an economist for the National Bank of New Zealand, between 2001 and 2003, and for the European Investment Bank, in Luxembourg, between 2003 and 2005. He was chief economist and later Head of Financial Markets at ING Bank in Bucharest, between 2006 and 2011.

He was elected senator in Romania’s Parliament in December 2016 on the list of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and was a member of the Committee on Budget, Finance, Banking and Capital Market and of the Committee on European Affairs. In November 2019, he became finance minister in the Liberal Government led by Ludovic Orban.