Victor Ponta named Romanian PM

Newsroom 17/12/2012 | 11:42

Romanian President Traian Basescu signed on Monday the decree for appointing incumbent PM Victor Ponta, nominee of the center-left coalition USL, to form a new government.

President Basescu met on Monday with the leaders of the political parties that got into Parliament, to discuss the nominalization for the PM position.

“As there was a single proposal for representatives of the political parties and of national minorities from the Romanian Parliament (…) Traian Basescu named Victor – Viorel Ponta as candidate for the PM position,” said the Presidency in an official statement.

Ponta, aged 40, now has to come up with the cabinet appointments that will be vetted in Parliament. He has been in office since May. The future Parliament is controlled by the center-left USL coalition, which is set to pass the new government with flying colors.

President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, congratulated Ponta for his electoral victory, stating that “Romanian people have made a clear choice in a democratic way.”

“President Barroso looks forward to working with Prime Minister Victor Ponta and President Basescu, during the coming challenging years, to promote the necessary reforms in Romania’s and Europe’s interest,” said an official statement, following the Parliamentary elections.

The USL – social liberal alliance- got 58.6 percent of the votes for the Chamber of Deputies and 60.1 percent in the Senate, in the December 9 elections. The right wing alliance ARD seized 16.5 percent of the votes in the Chamber of Deputies and 16.7 percent in the Senate. The center party PP-DD, founded by media owner Dan Diaconescu, got 14 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively. The union of Hungarians UDMR accomplished a result of 5.1 percent in the Chamber of Deputies and 5.2 in the Senate.