Romanian Parliament Holds Confidence Vote On Croitoru Govt

The Cabinet needs the approval of 236 lawmakers to be instated, but that is highly unlikely because most of the proposed ministers have been thumbed down last week by parliamentary committees and Croitoru doesn't have the key support of a majority of over 65%.

Social democrats, liberals and the Hungarian minority party have already said they will give the Cabinet a no-confidence vote.

The confidence vote meeting is attended by 391 lawmakers out of 471.

Croitoru proposed a government of 14 ministers of the ousted democrat liberal government and experts. Only two of the proposed ministers were endorsed by parliamentary committees who heard of all of them last week.

If the Croitoru government gets a vote of no-confidence, President Traian Basescu will have to designate a new prime minister, who will then have ten days to propose a new Cabinet. The country's self-proclaimed parliamentary majority has said it continues to back Sibiu mayor Klaus Johannis for prime minister, but Basescu is reluctant to designate him.

Romania's political instability, atop a deepening recession and social unrest, continues to raise concerns on whether the country will be able to meet the requirements of an IMF-led bailout loan of nearly EUR20 billion. The European Commission and the World Bank are not likely to approve further loan disbursements to Romania unless the country adopts its pledged structural reforms, particularly in the public wage and pension sectors, people with the matter told MEDIAFAX Tuesday.

An IMF mission is in Romania until November 9 for a second review of the loan agreement it is overseeing.

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