Parliament meets for vote of investiture of Government proposed by Dacian Ciolos

The Chamber of Deputies and the Senate meet on Wednesday for the vote of investiture of the government proposed by Prime Minister-designate Dacian Ciolos.

The meeting is scheduled to kick off at 10:00.

According to the timetable, Prime Minister-designate Dacian Ciolos will present the government programme and the government's list. There will be debates followed by the vote on the request to grant the Parliament's confidence over the Programme and the entire list of the Government, agerpres reports.

The list of ministers and the government programme were submitted to Parliament on Monday.

The candidates proposed by prime minister-designate Dacian Ciolos are: Dan Barna - Minister of Foreign Affairs; Nicu Falcoi - Minister of National Defense; Alin Stoica - Minister of Internal Affairs; Stelian Ion - Minister of Justice; Dragos Pislaru - Minister of Finance; Catalin Drula - Minister of Transport and Infrastructure; Cristina Pruna - Minister of Energy; Claudiu Nasui - Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism; George Catean - Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; Mihai Gotiu - Minister of Environment, Water and Forests; Cristian Ghinea - Minister of Investments and European Projects; Ioana Mihaila - Minister of Health; Ionut Mosteanu - Minister of Development, Public Works and Administration; Oana Toiu - Minister of Labour and Social Protection; Corina Atanasiu - Minister of Education; Monica Berescu - Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization; Iulia Popovici - Minister of Culture; Tudor Pop - Minister of Youth and Sports.

On Tuesday, the ministers proposed in the Ciolos Cabinet were heard in the select committees of the Parliament, all, with the exception of the proposed Minister of Transport, Catalin Drula, receiving negative opinions. Drula received a favourable opinion due to procedural error, after the committees did not obtain the necessary votes for an unfavourable opinion.

The opinion of the committees when hearing the proposed ministers is advisory.

According to the Constitution and regulations, the Parliament trusts the Government with the vote of the majority of deputies and senators. The vote is secret, with balls. At least one half plus one of the members of the two Chambers of Parliament must be present.

To be sworn in, the Ciolos Cabinet needs the favourable vote of 234 MPs. The Save Romania Union (USR) which he is heading has 80 deputies and senators and no other parliamentary political party has announced that it supports the Cabinet proposed by Dacian Ciolos.

The National Liberal Party (PNL)'s president Florin Citu said that liberal MPs will participate in the meeting, but will not vote, noting that it is the responsibility of the prime minister designate to make a majority.

The Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) has made a decision similar to that of the liberals, meaning that the MPs of the UDMR will be present for the joint session to invest the Ciolos gov't, but will not cast their vote, the leader of the UDMR's Deputies Csoma Botond, said.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) will make a final decision on how the social-democratic MPs will behave in the vote in a meeting of the party leadership held one hour before the meeting of the reunited plenum, but the PSD leaders have stated, on several occasions, that they will not vote for a Government proposed by Dacian Ciolos.

The Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) representatives also announced that they will not support a Government proposed by Dacian Ciolos.

The leader of the national minorities, others than the Hungarian one, Varujan Pambuccian, said in his turn that he would not support the idea of a minority government, noting that the group he leads will always have a balanced attitude.

Prime Minister-designate Dacian Ciolos on Tuesday appealed to lawmakers to go over political egos and vote in favour of the Cabinet he proposed, noting that it provides solutions.

In case of non-granting of the vote of confidence, the Parliament, under the signature of the presidents of the two Chambers, shall at first bring this situation to the knowledge of the President of Romania, in order for him to designate another candidate for the position of Prime Minister.

In case of adoption, the Parliament's decision on the granting of the vote of confidence shall also be submitted to the President so that he proceed with the appointment of the Government.