Romanian president nominates diplomat Luca Niculescu as prime minister

Romania's centrist President Nicusor Dan nominated diplomat Luca Niculescu as ​prime minister late on Monday in another attempt ​to end a protracted political crisis that ‌has ​raised debt costs and pressured the country's investment-grade rating. "I chose the person with the highest chances of reaching a (parliamentary majority) and (he) has the freedom ‌to decide the governing formula — political, technocrat — after talks he will hold with political parties," Dan said on Monday evening.

"I have the guarantee that a government with Luca Niculescu will maintain Romania's pro-Western direction and will respect the financial ‌targets and all the commitments that Romania has undertaken." Niculescu, 55, a former journalist and later Romanian ambassador to ‌France, is currently interim deputy foreign minister, in charge of Romania's ongoing accession process to the OECD.

He is Dan's fourth attempt at nominating a prime minister in the five months since a pro-European broad coalition government collapsed in a no-confidence vote. Niculescu now has 10 days ⁠to ​put together a cabinet ⁠list and ask parliament for a vote of confidence.

A previous pro-European government led by Liberal Party head Ilie Bolojan collapsed in early May ⁠when the leftist Social Democrats, parliament's biggest party, quit and teamed up with the far-right opposition to file a no-confidence ​vote. It was unclear whether the pro-European parties in the now collapsed coalition would agree to back Niculescu's ⁠pending cabinet.

Under Romanian law, conditions for the president to dissolve parliament and call a snap election have been met, but Dan has repeatedly ⁠said ​that would be his last resort. Analysts have said the only party to benefit from snap polls would be the opposition hard-right Alliance for Uniting Romanians (AUR), which leads opinion polls by double digits. Dan has also ⁠said any new government should not include AUR.

All three main ratings agencies have kept Romania on the last ⁠rung of investment-grade with ⁠a negative outlook in their scheduled reviews this year and have stressed the country needs to pass a 2027 budget by the end of this year, laying ‌out further reductions to ‌the deficit.