Romanian president appoints Bucharest district mayor as new PM
- Source: Xinhua
- [10:44 November 07 2009]
- Comments
Romanian President Traian Basescu on Friday appointed Bucharest District 3 Mayor Liviu Negoita as the country's prime minister.
Basescu made the move after the parliament on Wednesday rejected the cabinet of Lucian Croitoru, an economist designated last month as new prime minister by the president.
Negoita, a 47 year-old democrat liberal, announced he would spend three days starting Friday consulting with political parties in a bid to assemble a cabinet with majority support.
"My mission is clear. I am aiming to assemble a national coalition government. Consultations to this end will start today and will continue on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, I will file the list of the government with the parliament," the prime minister-designate said, stressing that there was no more time to waste.
"Romania needs a legitimate government. This is an opportunity for us politicians to prove that we are responsible by approving a fully empowered government that may discuss with international organizations and answer to the Romanians' needs," he said.
Negoita gave assurances that the government he would assemble would assume political responsibility for taking the country out of the ongoing economic and political crisis and honor Romania's commitments to international bodies.
Negoita has announced he has already invited representatives of all parliamentary parties to begin the talks on the formation of a new government, on Friday evening at the government's headquarters.
Negoita also said he would go to Parliament with the governing program presented by Lucian Croitoru, too. "The governing programme is written down. It has been sent to Parliament. I agree to it," said Negoita, adding that "it is a good governing program."
The political crisis in Romania became increasingly intense after the collapse of the Democrat Liberal government on Oct. 13, following a no-confidence motion by the opposition.
Analysts warned that the coming two tranches of an International Monetary Fund-led loan package could be delayed by the prolonged political crisis.
The opposition parties said they would continue to support a government led by the mayor of Sibiu, Klaus Johannis, an ethnic German.
The Romanian Constitution states: "Romania's president could dismiss the parliament if the latter fails to give its vote of confidence to shape a government within 60 days from the first demand and only after rejecting of at least two demands of investiture."
