Parliament’s special
committees on Tuesday started hearing the candidates nominated by Prime
Minister designate Ludovic Orban for his new Government. Scheduled over the
course of two days, the hearings will be followed by an investiture vote in
Parliament’s plenary sitting on Monday, November 4. The first to appear before
Parliament’s special committee was the Ministry of European Funds candidate. Also on Tuesday, candidates aspiring for the
Ministries of Health, Culture or National Defense were also interviewed. The opinions
presented by Parliament’s special committees are purely consultative. A great
deal of attention surrounded the hearing of the Finance Ministry candidate,
amongst rumors that the Orban Cabinet will introduce very strict austerity
measures, such as salary slashes or layoffs in the public sector. Meanwhile,
Ludovic Orban expressed confidence his new Cabinet will get the necessary
support in Parliament, after signing agreements with several parliamentary
parties. The Liberal Cabinet is therefore expected to get the 233 necessary
votes in Monday’s investiture vote, which would be enough to replace the
outgoing Dancila Cabinet. After signing political protocols and agreements with
Save Romania Union, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, the People’s
Movement Party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the group of
national minorities, Ludovic Orban pointed out:
We have
currently secured more than the 233 votes needed to invest the new Government.
Surely, negotiations will continue, because we want to secure a margin of error
to provide for unexpected absences.
Under the
political agreement between the National Liberal Party and Save Romania Union,
the two sides have committed to support the latter’s citizens’ initiative to
ban people convicted in court from holding public office, as well as to vote
for the election of local authorities in two separate ballots. The agreement
signed with the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians stipulates the new
Government will not pass any emergency decrees in the justice or election
fields. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats also wants to modify the justice
laws by means of Parliamentary debate and to ban MPs and local officials from
switching parties. In turn, the People’s Movement Party wants to eliminate
special pensions, except for those of the military, and to re-launch relations
with the Republic of Moldova. On the other hand, the PRO Romania Party, made up
of dissidents of the Social-Democratic Party, claims it would decide whether or
not it will take part in Monday’s vote in Parliament after all candidates have
been interviewed. The Social-Democrats say it will treat all candidates fairly
in Parliament’s special committees, although it will not attend Monday’s vote,
hoping it will fall through due to lack of quorum.
(Translated by V. Palcu)