Prime Minister Emil Boc handed in his resignation in a gesture awaited by some but judged reckless by others, after 1,100 days at the helm of the Government that he led through some of the worst years of economic collapse for Romania, which lost a cumulated 10% of GDP in 2009 and 2010.
President Traian Basescu on Monday night nominated Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, as prime minister. Ungureanu, 43, was foreign minister between 1998 and 2000, when he was just 29. He majored in history and philosophy in Iasi and has a post-graduate degree from the Center for Jewish Studies in Oxford.
The majority of businesspeople believe that during these confusing times it would be best to choose a technocratic government, while the political class tends to credit a political government (or at the most a government led by a technocrat with political ministers), which suggests a rupture between the economic and the political elites.
The prime minister motivated his resignation saying he is not clinging to power, but analysts see an attempt by ruling party PD-L to limit electoral losses, as elections near. The pressure of the street and of the party which is falling in the opinion polls day by day have pushed Boc to resign one day after the departure of the IMF mission. The IMF, apart from critical observations, found that the Government had met the parameters agreed with the Fund, the World Bank and the EU.
Government Boc has been responsible in the past two years for some of the toughest austerity measures in Europe. But it was late to take some of the measures and was not very adept at explaining and communicating them.
Although during Emil Boc’s time in office, the Government made mistakes, some of them major, as he himself admitted, such as boosting the sales tax to 24%, last year things showed that Romania was in some way heading in the right direction: the economy grew by around 2.5%, inflation was at its lowest in 22 years, and consumption for the first time saw a substantial 4% rise in 4Q of 2011.
Opposition alliance USL says the prime minister’s resignation is not enough and demanded the resignation of president Traian Basescu and early elections.
USL announced again on Monday it wanted to be in the Government. If they win the elections, the USL’s proposed prime minister will be Victor Ponta, leader of the Social Democratic Party.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)