Linişti şi nelinişti

This week begun with a kind of premiere, at least for Romania: in less than a day the country had three Prime Ministers. The first one, Emil Boc, resigned on Monday, 6 February, around 10 a.m. One hour later, President Traian Basescu decided to appoint Catalin Predoiu (Justice) as interim PM, but at 7 pm the Chief of External Intelligence Service, Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, was asked to put together a new cabinet.

“Mihai Razvan Ungureanu has become the first Oxford University graduate to become Prime Minister of Romania. Congratulations to him, and, yes, congratulations to Oxford too (though it pains me to say it – I went to Cambridge),” writes Martin Harris, UK Ambassador to Romania on the FCO blog.

With only five votes over the limit (237 pros and 2 againsts), the Parliament invested its confidence in a partially fresh new government:

Vice Prime Minister – Mr. Marko Bella (Hungarian minority)

Foreign Minister – Mr. Cristian Diaconescu (progressist)

Minister of Justice – Mr. Catalin Predoiu (independent)

Defense Minister – Mr. Gabriel Oprea (progressist)

Minister of EU affairs – Mr. Leonard Orban (independent)

Finance Minister – Mr. Bogdan Alexandru Dragoi (democrat liberal)

Minister of Regional Development and Tourism – Mr. Cristian Petrescu (democrat liberal)

Minister of Education, Youth and Sports – Mr. Catalin Baba (democrat liberal)

Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure – Mr. Alexandru Nazare (democrat liberal)

Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration – Mr. Gabriel Berca (democrat liberal)

Minister of Labour and Family – Ms. Claudia Boghicevici (democrat-liberal)

Minister of Economy – Mr. Lucian Nicolae Bode (democrat-liberal)

Minister of Communications and Information Society – Mr. Serban Razvan Mustea (democrat liberal)

Minister of Agriculture – Mr. Stelian Fuia (democrat liberal)

Minister of Environment – Mr. Laszlo Borbely (Hungarian minority)

Minister of Culture – Mr. Kelemen Hunor (Hungarian minority)

Minister of Health – Mr. Ladislau Ritli (Hungarian minority)

Read more: BBC, Financial Times.