The liberals in power in Romania and their former social democratic rivals reached an agreement on Sunday (November 21) to form a coalition government, two months after the start of a serious political crisis in the midst of the epidemic.
These two formations, which had already shared power between 2012 and 2014 before falling out, also decided to “Rotation” unprecedented by prime ministers, until the legislative elections of December 2024.
You just have to choose who will be prime minister first
The candidate of the Liberals (PNL) Nicolae Ciuca and that of the Social Democrats (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu should thus succeed one another at the head of the executive, with a term of one and a half years each.
All that remains is to agree on Monday on the name of the first head of the next government, before submitting this choice to President Klaus Iohannis in the process, said Mr. Ciuca, at the end of a meeting with the PSD and the Hungarian Minority Party (UDR), partner in this coalition.
A country in economic and health crisis
The liberals were initially opposed to allying with the Social Democrats, but the two parties ended up burying the hatchet, believing that the country needed a stable government to cope with urgent issues: inflation at nearly 8% against a backdrop of slowing growth, consolidation of public finances, management of the health crisis, etc.
Romania has been in political uncertainty since Parliament censured the liberal government of Florin Citu in early October, let down by his former ally USR, who accused him of authoritarianism. This crisis came as this country, a poor pupil of vaccination, with barely 37% of its 19 million inhabitants having received the two doses, was hard hit by a new particularly virulent wave of Covid-19.