Romania‘s prime minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Wednesday that he will present his resignation on Friday, ahead of the agreed rotation between the governing political parties, according to See News.
Ciuca, who is head of the National Liberal Party (PNL), will decide by Monday whether he would remain in the government after he steps down, he said during a press conference live streamed on the prime minister’s Facebook page.
The rotation of power was one of the conditions on which the three parties within the governing coalition – the Liberals, the Social Democrats (PSD), and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) – agreed upon when they formed the cabinet in 2021.
According to local media reports, Social Democrat leader Marcel Ciolacu is expected to become prime minister in the coming weeks, although Ciuca said that negotiations on the matter are still ongoing among the partners.
Ciuca, 56, is a retired Romanian Land Forces general. He served as a Chief of the Romanian General Staff between 2015-2019, according to his public CV. His term as prime minister of Romania started in November 2021. Previously, he held the position of interim prime minister for three weeks in December 2020.