Romania, president nominates diplomat Luca Niculescu as prime minister

Romania’s centrist president, Nicusor Dan, proposed diplomat Luca Niculescu for the position of prime minister late on Monday, in a fresh attempt to end the country’s prolonged political crisis.

“I have chosen the person who has the best chance of securing (a parliamentary majority) and I am giving him the freedom to decide the form of the government — political or technocratic — after the talks he will hold with the political parties,” Dan said on Monday evening.

“I am confident that a government under Luca Niculescu will maintain Romania’s pro-Western course and will adhere to the fiscal objectives and all the commitments the country has undertaken,” the Romanian president assured.

Who is Niculescu?

Niculescu, 55, a former journalist and later Romania’s ambassador to France, is currently a deputy foreign minister, responsible for Romania’s ongoing process of joining the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

This is Dan’s fourth attempt to name a prime minister in the five months since the fall of a broad pro-European coalition government, which was brought down by a motion of no confidence.

Niculescu now has ten days to draw up the list of ministers and ask Parliament for a vote of confidence.

The previous pro-European government, led by Liberal Party leader Ilie Bolojan, collapsed at the beginning of May when the Social Democrats, the largest party in Parliament, left the governing coalition and joined the far-right opposition to file a motion of no confidence.

It was unclear whether the pro-European parties of the now-dissolved governing coalition would agree to support Niculescu’s government-in-formation.

Under Romanian law, the conditions that would allow the president to dissolve Parliament and call early elections have now been met. However, Dan has repeatedly stated that such a development would be the last resort.

Analysts believe the only party that could benefit from going to elections would be the far-right opposition Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), which leads in the polls by double digits. Dan has also said that any new government should not include AUR.

All three major rating agencies have kept Romania at the bottom of investment grade, with a negative outlook, in their scheduled assessments this year.

The agencies have stressed that the country must adopt the 2027 budget by the end of this year, envisaging further measures to reduce the fiscal deficit.