Romania in the headlines. How international media announced newly appointed PM

The appointment of a new prime-minister Razvan Ungureanu and the resignation of the former head of the cabinet Emil Boc was noted by international media outlets who spilled some ink on who the new Romanian PM is and what led to his institution.

•  “President Traian Basescu appointed Mihai Razvan Ungureanu as his pick to be the nation’s next permanent prime minister,” says the CNN in a piece entitled Romania’s PM resigns amid protests, winter deaths. “The 43-year-old Ungureanu was Romania’s foreign minister from 2004 to 2007, and since then he has been the head of the east European nation’s foreign intelligence service. About former PM Emil Boc, the CNN says he “resigned Monday in the wake of weeks of public protests against austerity measures and a deadly spell of bitterly cold weather. The resignation makes Romania the sixth European country to see a prime minister fall amid the debt crisis sweeping European Union member states,” says the article.

• “Romania’s newly appointed prime minister has named his government, a mix of old and new figures,” says the Associated Press in a piece called Romania’s newly appointed PM names his government. “Ungureanu, a 43-year-old with a pro-American outlook, says he will resign as spy chief.” On the new proposed government, the AP writes that Ungureanu “nominated new, younger ministers for the key portfolios of economy, finance, interior ministry and agriculture.Parliament will vote Thursday on his Cabinet. The ruling coalition and its minority partners have enough votes to approve the government. The opposition has said it will boycott,” says the AP.

• “Romania’s president has nominated the country’s intelligence service chief as prime minister hours after Emil Bloc resigned amid austerity protests,” writes the BBC in an article called Romania spy chief nominated to replace PM Emil Boc. “The nomination now requires approval by Romania’s parliament. Mr Boc said he was stepping down to “defuse political and social tension” in the face of three weeks of protests. Although Romania’s economy grew last year, the government has been hit by widespread demonstrations. Mr Boc has imposed a 25 percent cut in public sector wages and a freeze on pensions. Sales tax was also increased to 24 percent, in a country seen as Europe’s second poorest,” writes the BBC.

•  “Romania’s prime minister designate Mihai Razvan Ungureanu named his cabinet on Wednesday, replacing all ruling party ministers in an attempt to make a clean break from his predecessor who quit after protests against his austerity measures,” writes Reuters in the article Romania PM designate names new cabinet. “Parliament is expected to back the 43-year-old head of Romania’s foreign intelligence service, nominated by the president, on Thursday after he inherited a coalition of the centrist Democrat-Liberal Party (PDL) and smaller groups,” says the article also adding that “the protests in the EU’s second-poorest country where the average wage is less than 350 euros ($460) a month, just a quarter of France’s legal minimum, have pushed PDL support below 20 percent before a parliamentary election due by November.

•  The scalp of Emil Boc is just the latest victory for protesters, who are in no mood to tolerate the antics of their ‘player-president,’ says The Guardian in a piece called Romanians have ejected their prime-minister- who’s next?. “The appointment of Ungureanu is a last-minute attempt by BÄ�sescu to diminish the political losses both for himself and for the Democrat-Liberals, the main party in the governing coalition. The newly appointed prime minister, who still has to pass through a parliamentary vote together with his cabinet, enjoys a good relationship with the president and is seen by many as an independent professional,” says The Guardian.

Otilia Haraga