Basescu confirms the members of the new Government

Romania’s President, Traian Basescu, and Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, reached an agreement yesterday concerning the reshuffled government, hence, Basescu eventually confirmed the ministers proposed by the latter.

“We have reached an agreement which consists of the following: the Government will take responsibility on a new programme, therefore I will confirm today the ministers passed by Parliament yesterday. I hope that as I will fulfil my part of the agreement, the Government will do the same with its part in accordance with the terms established”, Basescu said.

So, yesterday evening, the new ministers, as well as those that have been assigned new ministries took oath before President Traian Basescu. They are: 

Gabriel Oprea – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs;

Daniel Constantin – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture;

Kelemen Hunor – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture;

Attila Korody – Minister of Environment and Climate Change;

Constantin Nita – Minister of Economy;

Ioana Petrescu – Minister of Public Finance;

Nicolae Banicioiu – Minister of Health;

Gabriela Szabo – Minister of Youth and Sports;

Rovana Plumb – Minister of Labour and Family;

Alexandru Razvan Cotovelea – Minister for Information Society;

Dan Sova – Minister of Transport;

Mihnea Costoiu – Minister Delegate for Higher Education (the Ministry of Education);

Florin Jianu – Minister Delegate for SMEs, Business Environment and Tourism (the Ministry of Economy);

Eugen Nicolicea – Minister Delegate for the Relations with the Parliament (the Ministry of Justice);

Razvan Nicolescu – Minister Delegate for Energy (the Ministry of Economy);

Doina Pana – Minister Delegate for Waters and Forests (the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change);

Aurelia Cristea – Minister Delegate for Social Dialogue (the Ministry of Justice);

Bogdan Stanoevici – Minister Delegate for Romanians Abroad (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs);

Liviu Dragnea (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development),Titus Corlatean (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Mircea Dusa (Minister of Defence), Robert Cazanciuc (Minister of Justice), Remus Pricopie (Minister of Education), Eugen Teodorovici (Minister of European Funds), and Liviu Voinea (Minister Delegate for Budget - the Ministry of Public Finance) keep their portfolios.

After the investiture ceremony, Ponta undertook that a revised programme for the new government will be presented to the Parliament by the next week so as to avoid any constitutional infringement: "As per the article no. 114 of the Constitution, the new government will adopt and submit to the Parliament a political programme which will update the programme for government (...) Basically, the ground for notifying the Constitutional Court disappears and the government, from tomorrow on we have regular meeting, can work properly, in stability, and afterwards, in accordance with the terms provided by the Rules of the two Chambers, I will certainly present to the Parliamen the next week the updates to the programme for government”

Previously, on Tuesday, March 4, the Romanian Parliament approved the reorganization of the Executive, as well as the proposals Ponta made for the positions remained vacant. Then, Basescu conditioned his further confirmation of the ministers proposed on the update of the initial programme of the former USL Government.