BUCHAREST, June 4 (Reuters) – Romania’s centrist President Nicusor Dan designated his adviser Eugen Tomac as prime minister on Thursday, seeking to end a political crisis that has stalled policymaking, endangered access to EU funds and driven the leu currency to record lows.
A broad pro-European coalition government collapsed a month ago when its biggest party, the leftist Social Democrats, withdrew support for Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and joined forces with the opposition far right in a no-confidence vote.
The collapse of the government less than a year after it came to power threatened efforts to further cut the largest budget deficit in the European Union and also put at risk the country’s investment grade sovereign rating.
Tomac, 44, a member of the European Parliament and leader of a party not in Romania’s legislature, will have 10 days to form a government and win a parliamentary vote of confidence.
His cabinet will consist of technocrats, as the parties have not been able to forge a new coalition that could command a parliamentary majority.
“Because parties did not get along, the only possible solution is a prime minister who is independent of the parliamentary parties,” Dan told reporters.
Dan said the priorities of a new government should be maintaining a pro-Western stance, preserving financial stability, enforcing reforms to secure EU funds and clarifying 2027 budget plans.
TOUGH DECISIONS AHEAD
If confirmed, the new government will need to implement reforms quickly to tap some 8.6 billion euros worth of EU recovery and resilience funds before Brussels’ August cutoff date and ensure that deficit reduction continues beyond 2026.
But Tomac’s cabinet will likely struggle to garner support from a fragmented parliament for contentious reforms, including a bill setting criteria for how public sector wages should be paid.
“(The nomination) is a first attempt, we have no guarantees it will pass through parliament or that a majority has been negotiated,” said Sergiu Miscoiu, a political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University.
“Even if it is confirmed, it will probably not be a long-lived government.”
Romania’s next parliamentary election is not due until 2028. It has never held an early election and analysts say the likelihood of one now is small as the opposition hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR) leads in opinion polls.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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