Romanian PM designate names cabinet

Romania's Prime Minister designate Calin Popescu Tariceanu named his 24-member cabinet Sunday, hoping the parliament will approve it by Wednesday.

Tariceanu's centrist alliance of the Liberal and Democrat parties won 242 seats of the 469-seat parliament to form a majority cabinet after gaining the support of the Humanistic Party(PUR) and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR).

Liberal party member Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, 36, the foreign minister designate, is a Balkans stability specialist. He served as the Romanian deputy foreign minister from 1998 to 2000 and has been the special envoy of the Southeast Europe Stability Pact Coordinator in Bucharest since 2001.

Financial Minister designate Ionut Popescu, also a Liberal party member, is a journalist and economist. 40-year-old Popescu, graduating from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, used to be the editor-in-chief of a reputed business journal in Romania and a government spokesman.

The post of justice minister goes to 45-year-old Monica Macovei,a civil rights lawyer, while the new defense minister will be Teodor Atanasiu, 42, an engineer and president of the local council of the northern county of Alba.

29-year-old Cristina Parvulescu has been designated as the European Union integration minister and Codrut Seres, 35, economy and trade minister.

The three ministers of state without portfolio will also have responsibility for such issues as economy, culture, and small and medium-sized enterprises. They are Adriean Videanu, Bela Marko and George Copos.

By law, the president names the prime minister who needs the approval by the parliament. The president has the power to dissolve the parliament if the latter fails to approve the cabinet within 60 days.

Source: Xinhua