Croitoru opts not to form a government of technocrats

Prime Minister designate Lucian Croitoru announced the government team on Friday which he will present to Parliament to obtain the investiture vote. The new government will have 14 ministries, and includes members of the Democratic Liberal Party (PDL) and technocrats.

As such, Croitoru has decided to keep on Gheorghe Pogea as Minister of Finance, Catalin Predoiu as Minister of Justice, Teodor Paleologu as Minister of Culture, Mihai Stanisoara as Minister of Defence, Adriean Videanu as Minister of Economy and Trade, Vasile Blaga as Minister of Regional Development and Tourism, and Radu Berceanu as Minister of Transports and Communications. Sulfina Barbu is to return to the Ministry of the Environment, while the Ministries of Youth and of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises were eliminated.

While the political part of the Croitoru government is rather well known, the "technocratic" segment includes specialists less known to the public, with most of these coming from within various ministries. Diplomat Bogdan Aurescu is proposed as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, while Mihai Seitan, former manager of the National House of Pensions and Other Social Insurance Rights, could be validated as the new Minister of Labour, Family and Social Security. Also, if the Parliament votes in favour of this government, Daniel Funeriu will coordinate the Ministry of Education, Adrian Radulescu, President of the League of Agricultural Producers Associations, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Cristian Vladescu, President of the National House of Health Insurance, the Health Ministry. The choice for the Ministry of Internal Affairs is Florin Saghi, former Diplomatic Advisor of the Permanent Representation of Romania to the European Union.

On the other hand, economists whose names were mentioned by Lucian Croitoru last week for the positions of ministers, Laurian Lungu, Aurelian Dochia, Valentin Lazea, Gheorghe Oprescu, Lucian Albu, and Amalia Fugaru, were not included in the proposed government. "I did not join the Croitoru government because it seemed to me that political interests are far ahead the economic interests. I am referring strictly to the declared interests which political parties have had in this period," economic analyst Laurian Lungu told Business Standard.

standard.money.ro