Parliament to vote on Romania’s new government

Romania’s Parliament is to vote Thursday to approve the country’s new government, which the ruling coalition hopes will improve its popularity ahead of parliamentary elections this year. Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, formerly the head of Romania’s foreign intelligence service, has been appointed prime minister-designate after Emil Boc resigned following weeks of protests against his biting austerity measures. ‘An era of prosperity will not begin tomorrow,’ Ungureanu cautioned, pledging to respect Romania’s agreements with the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the World Bank. ‘I am not coming in these hard times with unrealistic promises,’ he said, adding that the government may consider ‘prudent salary increases’ in the public sector ‘if the economic situation allows it.’ Ungureanu needs 232 votes to have his government approved, which the ruling coalition does have. The opposition has said it will boycott the vote. Victor Ponta, leader of the opposition Social Democracy Party, said while a change of government is beneficial for Romania, citizens expect real change, and not just new faces. He added that he had doubts about the competence of some ministers. Ungureanu’s Cabinet has seven ministers from the previous cabinet, but new, younger ministers for the key portfolios of economy, finance, interior ministry and agriculture. Critics say the newly appointed ministers, largely unknown to the public, are close to senior members of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party, who are believed to be extremely influential. Ungureanu’s nomination has also been greeted with a degree of wariness in Romania, because of his career as a spy chief in a country with seven intelligence services and no foreign enemies Romanians took to the streets last month amid widespread anger about cuts the government instituted to get a (euro) 20 billion ($26 billion) loan in 2009 from the IMF, the European Union and the World Bank. The government needed the money to help pay salaries and pensions after its economy shrank more than 7 percent during the global credit crunch. There was a wide perception that the previous government did not care about the hardships being faced by most of Romania’s people. Sales tax remains at 24 percent, one of the highest levels in the EU, and the government is still cutting public sector jobs to reduce spending.