Romania’s former technocrat PM plans to get involved in politics

Former Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said on Thursday that the NGO he plans to launch would have “political objectives,” and that its members are “seriously considering a new political project, a political movement or a political party.” The new NGO will include members of the Government led by Dacian Ciolos, and will focus on continuing some of the projects started by the Ciolos cabinet, which target areas such as economic, social, education, and healthcare, the former PM said in an interview for local RFI. “We will come up with proposals, including legislative proposals that could be supported by parties that are in the Parliament,” Ciolos said. He added that he would still want a “close collaboration” with the National Liberal Party (PNL) and Save Romania Union (USR), the two parties that supported his platform Romania 100, which includes some of the former Prime Minister’s guidelines for the country’s future development. However, the future NGO would also work with other political parties, Ciolos said. “So we will coagulate, will concentrate technical competence, specific and political on certain areas, to come up both with proposals that could become political proposals in the Parliament through the member parties, but also with proposals that can be implemented in direct collaboration with the business environment, other NGOs active in various fields that need this expertise to implement projects,” Dacian Ciolos said. As for his cooperation with PNL or USR, Ciolos said that there is nothing sure at the moment. “I will make an announcement if there will be a decision in this sense at some point. So far, there is nothing sure or decided with PNL or USR. We’re seriously considering a new political project, a political movement or a political party. Whatever the option, our goal is to be able to contribute to a credible political project or a credible political alternative for the future elections, but that it will not wait for the future elections, so that it can come up with some proposals that can be implemented by then,” Dacian Ciolos added. Ciolos ended his term as Prime Minister of Romania in early-January this year. At that time, he announced that he planned to launch an NGO that would support the opposition in Romania. Former PM: Nobody will ever again be able to govern Romania in secret Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com