Romanian legislators endorsed the grand coalition government of Liberal Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca by an overwhelming majority on Thursday, inaugurating a rotating premiership deal to end a two-month long political stalemate.
„We can finally offer predictability and guarantee stability and development. Today is the first day of a new approach to govern Romania to improve the economic, social and health situation of its citizens,” Ciuca told parliament.
Ciuca, 54, a retired general, will run the cabinet until May 25, 2023 under the rotating coalition agreement with the party’s former foes, Romania’s largest Social Democrat Party (PSD).
Together with UDMR and an independent group of ethnic minorities, Ciuca’s government has an overwhelming backing of more than 70% of legislators.
On Thursday, the cabinet got backing from 318 legislators out of 444 deputies present.
The coalition will rotate premiers every 1-1/2 years. The PSD will hold the finance, farming, defence and transport ministries and the Liberals will be at the helm of departments such as justice, energy, home and foreign affairs.
The coalition has agreed to keep unchanged the flat income and profit tax and decided to raise pensions by 10% next year along with other social measures, including hiking child benefits, to cost an overall 13.6 billion lei ($3.1 billion).