Bucharest, Dec 23 (AFP/APP): Romanian MPs on Wednesday approved the country’s centre-right, pro-European coalition government headed by ex-banker Florin Citu, who has pledged to overcome the coronavirus crisis and the economic woes it has caused. In total 260 MPs voted in favour of approving Citu’s cabinet, with 186 against.
“My government will have two major objectives: getting over the health crisis and getting the economy back on track,” Citu, 48, said in a speech to both houses of parliament.
Romania is one of the poorest countries in the EU and the pandemic has exacted a heavy economic toll. Its vaccination programme launches on Sunday. Citu had served as finance minister in the outgoing government and has a degree in economics from the University of Iowa in the United States. President Klaus Iohannis tasked him with forming a government on Tuesday after three centre-right parties between them won the most seats in elections earlier this month.
The 20 ministries have been divided up according to electoral strength between Citu’s liberal PNL, the reformist USR-Plus and the UDMR which represents Romania’s Hungarian minority. However, the cabinet contains only one woman, who has been given the labour portfolio. Rights groups immediately condemned the lack of female representation. In the programme the government published on Wednesday it promised to fight poverty and increase Romanians’ purchasing power as well as ensuring “sustainable development based on investment and digitalisation”.
It also wants to bring the government deficit under three percent of GDP — it stood at nine percent in 2020. Delivering on this commitment will be essential to winning confidence among investors and EU institutions. However, the government has also promised not to raise taxes. Citu is also committed to taking Romania into the single currency but has not specified a target date for this. The government has also promised more investment for Romania’s creaking health system, which has come under huge strain while fighting the pandemic.
More than 600,000 infections have been recorded in the country of 19 million, with 14,766 deaths. The government says it wants to change the fact that Romania “has the lowest health budget in the EU”. It has promised to devote 4.6 billion euros of EU cohesion funds to the building of ten hospitals and the refurbishment of around 100 others. The left-wing opposition Social Democrats (PSD) were less than impressed, PSD leader Marcel Ciolacu branding the government “stillborn”.
He accused Citu’s administration of “not putting forward any measure that will improve Romanians’ lives or for coming out of the health crisis,” adding: “Your only goal is to plunder, to kill Romanian agriculture and business.” The PSD came out just ahead of the PNL in this month’s elections but lacked allied in parliament to form a government.
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