The Ciucă Cabinet Enters The Last Hundred Meters Of The Mandate The Great Reforms Are Still In The Works

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă faced a series of crises in the first 15 months of government, including managing the consequences of a war on the border, and in the remaining three months he has a long list of reforms to achieve The cabinet led by Nicolae Ciucă managed to find timely solutions for the energy crisis, although it always gave the impression that it was improvising, given the frequency of changes in the energy field (series of GEOs).

A second problem was the management of the effects of the war started by Russia in Ukraine, a situation finally under control, especially on the part of the refugees, who were well received, housed and provided with food, and recently there have been signals that the state wants to integrate them as much as possible into the labor market The reason: the conflict will spread, so the solution no longer has to be temporary, but take into account the problem at the border in the longer term.

The government successfully weathered the coronavirus pandemic, although there were heated discussions on the subject of mandatory vaccination certificates at work, especially during the first four to five months of the mandate For those affected by the economic crisis, the Executive came up with several social measures, from vouchers given every two months to other one-off help for pensioners (including special cards for paying energy bills) A big problem for the Executive was the pace for fulfilling the objectives of the PNRR.

Until this moment, Romania has sent two payment requests, the last one is still in the evaluation process, because a series of clarifications are needed A real test will be the next request, for which Power has difficult milestones and targets to meet.

Difficult with the PNRR The most visible and important reform, being cataloged as a "red line", according to Minister Marcel Boloș, i e.

its non-fulfilment can block the entire PNRR, is that of special pensions The PSD was responsible.

More precisely, at the Minister of Labour, Marius Budai Although the reform should have been definitive since the end of last year, the initiative is blocked at the specialized committees in the Senate, because the PSD ministries do not come with specific details about the budgetary impact and how it affects each socio-professional category targeted by the reform, in order to be able to undergo modifications to bring it into a form that has a chance of passing the CCR test.

As the current draft law shows, the approach is doomed to failure And this was also specified by the Legislative Council, in the opinion given, as well as by experts, after three former judges of the CCR (Augustin Zegrean, Daniel Morar and Petre Lăzăroiu) explained to "Adevărul".

Another big challenge and running against time is the amendment of criminal legislation Although sent by the Government to Parliament at the end of the year (when they were supposed to be ready), the laws are still in the specialized committees of the Senate.

These projects must be finalized by the time payment request number three is sent Last but not least, the Government has started to apply GEO 109/2011 on corporate governance, i.

e management appointments for four years at state companies, but the selection of personnel squeaks from all joints, being cases of close relatives or people from the parties' entourage.

And the European Commission will carefully follow this selection, being among the reforms of interest in Brussels Last but not least, during Ciucă's mandate, the new heads of prosecutor's offices will be established for the next three years, the selection process being ongoing at the moment, and the PNL, through Minister Ligia Deca, must come up with an almost final form of the laws Education, after delaying this for four months.

Syncope and internal problems At the end of last year, the Ciucă Government faced its first major blow: the failure to join Schengen in the December 8 vote Although Romania pushed until the last moment, in the JAI Council Austria, seconded by the Netherlands (which had a problem with Bulgaria, a state evaluated as a package with Romania) opposed the Schengen extension for one reason, that's right, which was not related to what Romania had to fulfill.

After an effervescence of almost a month in which the intensification of negotiations and a new attempt at a quick vote were discussed, now in Bucharest few politicians remember Schengen At the beginning of March there is a JAI Council, but both the diplomacy from Bucharest and the MAI discreetly avoided mentioning this moment.

Inside the parties, there is already turmoil regarding the future of power relations after the May rotation The PSD conveyed to the liberals that they would like to change only the prime minister and the functions of secretary general of the Government with that of the head of the Chancellery.

Instead, the PSD would like to keep both Transport and Finance, to leave Justice and European Projects to the liberals For Ciucă and Bode, it will be a test for them to remain in the most important positions in the party, after the former will no longer be prime minister, and the latter may no longer hold the new Cabinet.

Their and most Liberal ministers' relationship with the party leadership and leaders in the territory is poor at present Five resignations Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă has so far changed no less than five ministers, three from PNL and two from PSD.

The first head fell after less than a month of government, in mid-December Florin Roman, then Minister of Research and Digitization, resigned following suspicions of plagiarism and problems related to the information in his CV.

Another resignation came from the Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dan Vîlceanu, as a result of the loss of political support The Minister of Education, Sorin Cîmpeanu, also resigned from the liberals, also due to integrity issues.

Adrian Chesnoiu (Agriculture), accused by DNA prosecutors of abuse of office, and Vasile Dîncu also resigned from the PSD, after controversial statements related to the conclusion of a peace between Ukraine and Russia .