Romanian president Nicușor Dan appointed independent Luca Niculescu on Monday, October 5, to “harmonize positions” expressed by political parties and form a new government.
“The choice came following today’s consultations. I chose the person who has the best chances of securing a majority. Over the past four years, he has been working on Romania’s accession process to the OECD; he has worked for the Romanian state,” Nicușor Dan said.
Niculescu will now have to hold talks with parliamentary parties and form a majority “deeply anchored in the Western direction,” according to the PM-designate.
“I will hold talks with the parliamentary parties to build a majority and agree on a realistic government program. I will not promise miracles, but what I can promise is seriousness in the use of public money, predictability for the economy, respect for commitments, accelerating reforms and a state that functions as well as possible,” Niculescu said.
https://www.facebook.com/NicusorDan.ro/videos/1647713663377984
Who is Luca Niculescu?
Born on April 25, 1971, in Bucharest, Luca Niculescu graduated from the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences at the University of Bucharest (1995) and holds a master’s degree in European Journalism from the University Centre for Journalism in Strasbourg (1996).
According to Digi24, between 1992 and 2016, Luca Niculescu worked as a journalist. He was editor-in-chief of RFI Romania, as well as a program host on several television stations: Money Channel, TVR 1, Digi24. Mainly specialized in international relations, he had a weekly column in Dilema Veche for five years. At the same time, he was a permanent correspondent in Romania for French media outlets (France Info, France Culture, France Inter, TV5, and the daily newspaper Libération).
Between 2016 and 2022, Luca Niculescu was Romania’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France, the Principality of Monaco and the Principality of Andorra. In this capacity, he also represented Romania in relations with international organizations based in Paris, particularly the OECD and the International Organisation of La Francophonie. He was also president of the Group of Francophone Ambassadors in France (GAFF) between 2019 and 2022.
Since September 2022, Luca Niculescu has been secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Coordinator for Romania’s accession process to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Context
This is the fourth nomination made by the Romanian president. So far, Nicușor Dan has designated Eugen Tomac, who stepped down, and Adrian Veștea and Siegfried Mureșan, who failed to obtain a vote of confidence from Parliament.
Before Monday’s consultations, political sources cited by Digi24 indicated that Social Democratic leader Sorin Grindeanu and Liberal-backed interim finance minister Alexandru Nazare were among the options being discussed for the position of prime minister. However, that quickly changed before the president’s announcement in the evening.
Gathering support
Prime minister-designate Luca Niculescu has 10 days to present the list of ministers and the government program and to request a vote of confidence from parliament. To be invested, he needs 233 votes.
Political parties were careful with their initial statements regarding Niculescu. The leader of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians party (AUR), George Simion, said that the PM-designate is “also a puppet,” and will therefore receive “zero votes from AUR.”
In turn, Petrișor Peiu, one of AUR’s leaders, announced that the party’s MPs will not vote for the government that prime minister-designate Luca Niculescu will propose, stressing that AUR will not participate in the vote.
The Social Democrats said, through the voice of the party president, that the new nomination “continues to defy parliamentary mathematics.”
“After four right-wing prime ministers have failed, we are seeing another appointment that does not take into account the party that won the elections. It is the president’s choice,” Sorin Grindeanu wrote on his Facebook page.
The PSD leader said that the Social Democrats’ National Permanent Bureau will hold a meeting on Tuesday, October 6, to analyze the new possible government.
“If the prime minister-designate continues to support Bolojan’s austerity policies, I believe there is no other way to put Romania back on the right path than to hold early elections. I want to put an end to Romania’s interim governments!” the Social Democratic leader also said.
Finally, the spokesman of the National Liberal Party, Ionel Bogdan, said that the formation took note of the nomination. He added that PNL will hold talks with Niculescu and analyze the forthcoming government program before making a decision regarding the investiture vote.
Save Romania Union Party (USR) president Dominic Fritz said he welcomes the nomination of Luca Niculescu for the position of prime minister, but added that his party will not vote for a government that includes PSD ministers.
“He is a respected diplomat, renowned for the professional execution of the missions entrusted to him, for example, Romania’s accession process to the OECD. USR will analyze the program, the team of ministers, and the majority supporting him. We will discuss with the prime minister-designate how he intends to ensure that the government can deliver results, as USR ministers have delivered,” Fritz said on his Facebook page.
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