Ministerial nominees received backing from parliamentary committees one after another, government investiture vote next
All the ministerial nominees of the government led by Prime Minister-designate Luca Niculescu received a favorable opinion from parliament's specialized committees during the hearings held on Monday and Tuesday, G4Media reported. The joint sitting of the two chambers of parliament will vote on Tuesday afternoon on the investiture of the government, for which at least 233 votes are required. Niculescu's predecessors failed to reach this threshold: Adrian Veștea received 189 votes, Siegfried Mureșan 182, while the far-right AUR did not take part in the committee hearings on either day.
Of the 18 ministries, 12 would be led by nominees of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), six by independent experts. Marian Neacșu would be interior minister and deputy prime minister, Ștefan-Ovidiu Popa would head the transport ministry, and Marcel-Alexandru Stoica the ministry of development, public works and administration. The defense ministry would go to Ștefan-Radu Oprea, the justice ministry to Radu Marinescu, and the ministry for investments and European projects to Alexandru-Mihai Ghigiu. The ministry of economy, digitalization, entrepreneurship and tourism would be led by Daniel-Cătălin Zamfir, agriculture by Florin-Ionuț Barbu, the environment by Natalia-Elena Intotero, labor by Florin Manole, health by Alexandru Rogobete, and education by Sorin-Gabriel Ionescu — all PSD nominees. As independent nominees, Alexandru Nazare would be finance minister, Sebastian-Dănuț Neculăescu foreign minister, Costinel-Bogdan Dumitru minister for digitalization and artificial intelligence, Dumitru Chisăliță energy minister, Valentin-Sorin Costreie minister of education and research, and Ioana-Ruxandra-Victoria Ciocan culture minister.
The most votes against went to justice minister nominee Radu Marinescu, who was approved with 78 votes in favor and 47 against. Labor nominee Florin Manole was approved with 52 in favor, 26 against and 3 abstentions; during the hearing, Raluca Turcan, a National Liberal Party (PNL) lawmaker, accused him of breaking two laws, including the administrative code, in connection with the labor inspectorate. Health nominee Alexandru Rogobete received 21 votes in favor, 8 against and 2 abstentions. At the hearing he said that ending the monopoly of the National Health Insurance House "does not mean privatizing the system," and clashed with Emanuel Ungureanu of the Save Romania Union (USR). Foreign minister nominee Sebastian-Dănuț Neculăescu was approved with 36 votes in favor, 4 against and 5 abstentions; during the hearing he announced that he would invite representatives of the Romanian minority in Ukraine — from Transcarpathia, Chernivtsi County and Odesa County — to Bucharest. Alexandru-Mihai Ghigiu, nominee for the ministry of European projects, received 23 votes in favor, 7 against and 1 abstention. Energy nominee Dumitru Chisăliță said that coal-fired power plants would be shut down "once there is something to replace them with," while development nominee Marcel-Alexandru Stoica was asked by USR lawmaker Radu Mihaiu about the merger of localities with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants, alluding to the fact that Stoica's father is mayor of a commune with about two thousand residents.
Niculescu is the fourth prime ministerial nominee designated by President Nicușor Dan since the Bolojan government was toppled by the joint no-confidence motion filed by the PSD and AUR on May 5. The PNL and the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) have previously announced that they will vote to invest the government, though neither party will take on a governing role.
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