Page 15 - bne_newspaper_February_02_2018

Southeast Europe
February 2, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 15
Controversial judicial reforms to continue
as Romania’s latest government is sworn in
bne IntelliNews
Romania’s parliament approved the appointment of the new Social Democrat-led cabinet headed by the country’s first female prime minister, Viorica Dancila, on January 29.
Dancila is a close ally of Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea, who now has a tighter grip on the government after replacing key ministers with more loyal candidates. Dragnea is expected to use his increased power – compared to in the past two cabinets that were headed
by more independent prime ministers than Dancila – in order to push through controversial amendments to justice laws.
This is the third cabinet of the centre-left coalition of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (Alde) that won the general elections in December 2016.
The cabinet was supported by 288 deputies, 60% of the parliament. Aside from the two ruling parties, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), with around 5% of MPs, voted for the new cabinet as well.
The opposition National Liberal Party (PNL) and Save Romania Union (USR) voted against the new cabinet, and warned against what they see as Dragnea's emerging “autocratic regime”.
Among the key members of the last cabinet
to hold onto their seats were Interior Minister Carmen Dan, Foreign Affairs Minister Teodor Melescanu and Defence Minister Mihai Fifor – all of them loyal to Dragnea – although the PSD leader defied expectations by not appointing
another close ally, Sevil Sahideh, as deputy prime minister.
The previous two governments collapsed when prime ministers Sorin Grindeanu and Mihai Tudose sought to assert their independence from Dragnea, but failed to keep the support of the PSD. While Dancila is closer to the powerful PSD leader than her two predecessors, further infighting cannot be ruled out.
“Overall, Dancila’s cabinet will likely experience internal tensions as well as significant public pressure in the coming months. Another cabinet reshuffle may be forthcoming in spring, especially because the ongoing factionalist infighting within the PSD is likely to resurface soon,” wrote Otilia Dhand, senior vice president at Teneo Intelligence, in an analyst note.
Dhand also forecast cabinet tensions over fiscal policy given the diverging views of Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici and Deputy Prime Minister Viorel Stefan on how to address the widening gap in public finances. “[I]t is unclear which one of these competing visions will prevail,” she wrote.
Going forward, however, focus remains on the ongoing judicial overhaul, which is likely to have a major impact on the fate of leading politicians including Dragnea. Dancila’s rhetoric in favour of the most radical amendments drawn up by the PSD and her comment that “no institution, no power centre will tell [my] government what to do” were seen as heralding more pressure for