Romanian President Nicușor Dan has asked diplomat Luca Niculescu to form a government after three unsuccessful nominations. Niculescu plans party talks to secure a parliamentary majority and agree a governing programme. His appointment opens another attempt to end the deadlock; a cabinet still needs parliamentary confidence before it can take office.
Geopolitics··Midday
Niculescu becomes the fourth nominee
Romanian President Nicușor Dan designated Luca Niculescu to form a government on the evening of 5 October, after another round of consultations with political parties and parliamentary groups. The diplomat and former journalist is the president’s fourth nominee in five months. He now needs to assemble support for a cabinet and obtain parliamentary confidence.[1], [2]
Dan pointed to Niculescu’s experience bringing different positions together through diplomacy and coordinating Romania’s accession to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD. Niculescu is a state secretary at the foreign ministry. The president said the nominee’s work had involved public institutions and legislation supported by parliamentary parties, and regarded him as best placed to build a majority.[1]
Niculescu will seek parliamentary support
Niculescu said his first task would be building a parliamentary majority behind a government committed to Romania’s European and Euro-Atlantic direction. He plans consultations to agree a realistic governing programme. Dan has left him free to choose a political or technocratic cabinet formula after discussions with parties, with securing majority support the central requirement.[1]
The nominee intends to present the consultation results, his priorities and his proposed team publicly in the following days. He has promised careful use of public funds, greater economic predictability, respect for Romania’s commitments and faster investment and reforms. These are the programme commitments he outlined when accepting the nomination, ahead of agreement on a governing team.[1]
Three government-formation attempts failed
Former prime minister Ilie Bolojan’s government fell on 5 May following a no-confidence motion brought jointly by the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance for the Union of Romanians. Dan’s first nominee, Eugen Tomac, relinquished his mandate after failing to find a majority. The second, Adrian Veștea, failed to obtain confidence on 22 June.[1]
The cabinet proposed by third nominee Siegfried Mureșan was also rejected. Niculescu enters the process with a career in journalism during 1992–2016 and diplomatic service as ambassador to France, Monaco and Andorra during 2016–2022. His new mandate follows the previous failures, while the composition of a cabinet and its parliamentary support still have to be settled through the announced consultations.[1]
