Romania's Centrist Alliance Secures Parliamentary Majority

27/12/2004

Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu now has enough votes in parliament to form a new government. Along with EU membership, fighting corruption and overhauling Romania's tax laws will be his top priorities.

By Gelu Trandafir for Southeast European Times in Bucharest -- 27/12/04

President Traian Basescu sees off his predecessor, Ion Iliescu, at the Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest. Basescu and Prime Minister-designate Calin Popescu Tariceanu have said they will take emergency measures to reform the country's tax laws by year’s end.

Having won the backing of the small Humanist Party (PUR), led by media mogul Dan Voiculescu, the centre-right Justice and Truth Alliance now appears to have enough parliamentary support to form a new government. Prime Minister-designate Calin Popescu Tariceanu is expected to submit his cabinet for approval by parliament on Wednesday (29 December).

Tariceanu's National Liberal Party (NLP) will have ten ministerial seats in the new cabinet, including the prime minister's, while the Democratic Party (DP) will have eight. The Democratic Union of Hungarians will have four seats, and the PUR three. In all, Tariceanu's government will have the support of 257 out of 469 MPs.

Two young experts have been appointed to the key posts of ministers of finance and foreign affairs. The finance portfolio will go to 40-year-old economist Ionut Popescu. Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, 36, will head the foreign ministry. He served as deputy foreign minister from 1998 until 2001 and is considered a top expert on security and development in the Balkans. Other key appointments include Monica Macovei, a popular lawyer who chairs the Romanian branch of the Helsinki Human Rights Committee, as justice minister and Codrut Seres as economy and trade minister.

The Humanist Party's decision to support the NLP-DP was a surprise turnaround; only three days previously, the party had voted for Socialist leaders Adrian Nastase and Nicolae Vacaroiu to become the speakers of the House and the Senate, respectively. Romanian political analysts continue to voice doubts about the stability of the new government. Many say they expect new elections to be called within months, to boost support in parliament for the reforms needed to join the EU in 2007.

Both Tariceanu and newly-elected President Traian Basescu have said they plan to use emergency measures to reform Romania's tax laws, instituting a 16 per cent flat tax for business and individuals. In an interview with AP, Basescu described high taxes as "one of the motors of corruption". The flat tax plan is strongly opposed by former President Ion Iliescu and the Socialist party.

In his inaugural address, Basescu described the fight against corruption as his administration's top priority, mentioning the topic no less than seven times. As for foreign policy, the single most important item on the agenda is EU membership, Basescu said. However, he also stressed the need to strengthen strategic partnerships with the United States and Great Britain in order "to guarantee Romania's national security".