BUCHAREST
(Reuters) - Romania's leftist prime minister, Victor Ponta, said on Friday he had appointed the government's EU funds minister, Eugen Teodorovici, as the new finance minister.
Ponta had briefly taken over the portfolio following the resignation earlier this month of Darius Valcov, who faces accusations of corruption -- charges he has denied. Parliament voted on Wednesday to allow prosecutors to arrest him.
Teodorovici, 43, faces potentially difficult talks in April with the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission, where he will seek backing for Romania's plans for sweeping tax cuts in 2016 to 2019.
On Friday, the IMF said the planned tax cuts threatened to undermine five years of fiscal consolidation and urged the cabinet to reconsider their size and timing.
Romania has a standby 4 billion euro aid deal with the IMF and the European Commission, which is tied to its performance in implementing reforms and keeping the deficit in check. The accord expires in September.
The tax cuts were formally approved by the government on Wednesday and will be debated in parliament before a final vote that is expected by June.
Romania's talks with the IMF ended without agreement in February as Bucharest resisted calls for gas price hikes and restructuring state-run coal firms.
Including Ponta's brief stint, Teodorovici will become the sixth finance minister since Ponta took office in May 2012. The premier has jokingly referred to the position as a "kamikaze" role.
Valcov quit after prosecutors alleged he had favored a firm for a public works contract in exchange for about 2 million euros ($2.20 million). Prosecutors subsequently accused him of unlawful gains after they discovered cash, gold bars and a French Impressionist painting in his safe.
Participation in cultural education activities continues to be limited, with the main barriers being difficult access, insufficient knowledge, and cost, the recently released Cultural Consumption Barometer 2024 shows. The report showed that many Romanians still associate culture with entertainment rather than with personal development or furthering their knowledge. The need for relaxation dominates in cultural […]
Roughly 84% of Romanians say that the pace of the state’s digitalization is slow or very slow, according to an Edge Institute & AtlasIntel study presented at the Digital Governance Summit 2025, which took place on Tuesday, November 25, at the presidential palace in Bucharest. The survey aims to capture the way citizens relate to […]
Romania’s Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) issued a negative opinion on the new bill regarding magistrates’ pensions. The move is only the latest development concerning a heated issue that led to tensions between the executive and the judiciary branch. CSM’s opinion is consultative, and the government led by Ilie Bolojan can still take responsibility for […]
Romania took the presidency of the Central European Initiative (or CEI) on Wednesday, November 26, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). The organization is a regional intergovernmental forum established in 1989, following the fall of the Berlin Wall. It gathers 17 Member States in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe […]
Trade between Romania and Poland continues to grow, with annual bilateral exchanges in goods now valued at more than EUR 12 billion, according to figures presented by the Polish-Romanian Bilateral Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PRBCC). The data was released during a reception in Bucharest marking Poland’s Independence Day and Romania’s National Day. Polish investments […]
As Romania moves closer to implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, local employers are preparing for one of the most consequential shifts in workplace regulation in over a decade. The directive, set for transposition by June 2026, introduces strict new rules on salary disclosure, pay reporting, and equal-pay verification, aiming to close persistent gender gaps […]
