Romania's Prime Minister-designate Dacian Ciolos has announced that he has presented to Parliament his government's program along with the list of his minority cabinet. Ciolos, who leads the centre-right Save Romania Union (USR), stressed that "we are prepared to take responsibility for those difficult measures". "I hope the hearings and the vote (in Parliament) can be organised as soon as possible, right this week... We are ready to take the plunge, to get to work as soon as possible, if this government gets Parliament's go-ahead." Parliament will give a vote of confidence to the new government in a few days.

Ciolos, aged 52, who was appointed by President Klaus Iohannis last week, stated at a press conference here that his government "will focus on the obvious current priorities. We need solutions and immediate measures for the health crisis ... and at the same time to prepare for the energy crisis, which could strongly hurt people this winter", according to reports

The proposed new cabinet would be made up entirely of members of the USR, which has just 80 seats in the 465-member Parliament. Ciolos want of the support of the two other major parties (the National Liberal Party, PNL, and the Social Democratic Party, PSD) and the other smaller opposition groups there. Local analysts believe that the likelihood of Ciolos receiving the support of the required more than 50 per cent of the vote in Parliament is very low.

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