Niculescu expects to be invested tomorrow as Prime Minister of Romania

Oromanians expect independent technocrat Luca Niculescu to get Parliament’s approval of the team leading and proposing for the new Executive on Tuesday, after three failed attempts to form government in more than five months.

Niculescu, a 55-year-old journalist and diplomat appointed on 5 October by the president of the country, Nicușor Dan, as Prime Minister, has been negotiating with parliamentary forces the support he hopes to obtain on Tuesday at a parliamentary session for his investiture.

The Hotnews.ro portal, like other media, points out that Niculescu has already had a clear success in these efforts and provides that the proposed Office, which is composed of 12 Social Democrats and six independents, will be voted by a majority of 279 Members in Parliament of a total of 464 seats.

If the forecast is confirmed, Luca Niculescu will be invested with the support of 127 members of the Social Democrats PSD, the Conservative PNL 92, the Hungarian minority party 31 (UDMR), and other votes of independent legislators and small party formations.

The hope is that the new Executive will take up his duties and put an end to five months of institutional paralysis, triggered on May 5 with the fall of the then Prime Minister, the conservative liberal Ilie Bolojan, after a motion of censure against his coalition, formed by four parties (social democrats, centrists, conservatives and the Hungarian minority).

This motion was driven by the PSD, which claimed its rejection of the severe and unpopular austerity measures to reprove the state budget. These measures were defended by the then Prime Minister.

However, the need to reduce the deficit, which with 7.9% in 2025 was the largest in the European Union (EU), will also be one of the main and most difficult challenges for the Niculescu Government.

Romania, one of the poorest countries in the EU, suffers from inflation of more than 8% that weighs on its economy, with a minimum growth forecast of 0.1% for this year.

Niculescu is the fourth candidate appointed by the President for the head of the Government, after three attempts that failed: the first gave up for lack of support before going to Parliament and the other two were rejected by the majority of the House.

Dan's main objective has been to ensure the Euro-Atlantic orientation of the Executive. Sharing more than 600 kilometres of border with Ukraine, Romania is a key NATO member for the defense of the Eastern flank of the Atlantic Alliance.