New Romanian Cabinet took the oath of office at the Cotroceni Palace

New Romanian Cabinet took the oath of office at the Cotroceni Palace

The Executive let by Mihai Tudose has taken the oath of office at the Cotroceni Palace. The ceremony took place after the new Government won a vote of confidence in the Parliament, with 275 MPs in favor and 102 against.

Mihai Tudose: Romania is in a good economic moment. We have economic growth, we have growth in industry, we have revenue growth, an increase in consumption. What we lack is a vigorous increase in investment and an increase in budget revenues.

Romania needs a government in a state of alert, worried about performance, and the new team will have to recover the delays, so that the objectives assumed in the governance program are respected, Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said in Parliament.

PSD President Liviu Dragnea said that the government program must be respected, regardless of political costs. That was the reason why the previous Grindeanu Government was changed, the Social Democrat leader said.

Liviu Dragnea: The majority decided to change the government, due to the fact that it moved away from the governing program, for which in fact this majority received the vote from the citizens. What was best? Lying that everything is going well or telling the truth, that there have been delays that risked endangering the entire governing program?

ALDE said it would support the Tudose Government, only if it is conditioned on the alliance's priorities. Deputy Varujan Vosganian said that ALDE would not support any change of the single tax rate in the sense of tax increases.

Varujan Vosganian: If there will be a discussion about redefining the single rate through tax rates below the current thresholds, we are willing to talk. But any change in the single tax rate in the sense of tax increases, no matter what we call this deviation from the single rate, will not find a partner in the ALDE.

A conditional vote was also given by UDMR, who hopes in an open dialogue on all the issues that will enter the decision making circuit.

UDMR President, Kelemen Hunor: This vote is not a blank check, I tell you right from the start. We will not be able to support the introduction of turnover tax and we should know what the solidarity tax is about. To me, neither the global income tax seems to be an initiative that would change something for the better.

PNL (from the opposition) voted against the government. MP Ben-Oni Ardelean criticized both the team and the governing program.

Ben-Oni Ardelean: PNL believes that you are destroying all of Romania at this pace. In a moment when the EU has some problems, but we have, thank God, openness to what partnership with the US means and the other partnerships that we have in progress, at the moment, you don’t do anything but to pulverize all the chances of Romania.

A vote against also came from the USR members. Deputy Cristian Seidler said that Romania needs another majority, as the current coalition is no longer legitimate.

Cristian Seidler: Mr. Mihai Tudose, along with your colleagues from PSD and ALDE, you have lost the legitimacy to lead Romania. There is no doubt that Romania needs another honest, competent and especially responsible majority.

The members from the national minority group had the freedom to vote as they pleased.

Group Leader, Varujan Pambuccian: We have no comments to make. It would be very ugly. And if it were, I do not know, so to speak, an absolutely personal impression it would be that I would look to my left, I would look to my right and the only thing I would think of would be the very old phrase "ex Nihilo, nihil fit".

PMP lawmakers did not attend the plenary session and did not vote.

At the end of the debates, Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said he would take into account the advice that has been given and that the new measures in the governing program would be discussed with all the partners.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei