Romania’s Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos changed four ministers in his cabinet on Tuesday, July 5. He said he made these changes to bring new spirit to his team as the Government enters a new stage in which it has to deliver results.

"The ministers I change have largely done their job. Each of the four ministers has projects that have made good progress but I want a new momentum. The new ministers' priority will be to accelerate result delivery on projects that have been started but haven't advanced fast enough," Ciolos said. He added that he informed President Klaus Iohannis of his decision and that he accepted it.

Ciolos changed the ministers of transport, communications, education, and the minister delegate for the Romanians abroad. Each of them had a hot potato in his portfolio or had drawn negative attention in the media due to controversial statements.

Communications minister Marius Bostan managed to anger just about anyone in Romania last week when he said that some teachers mock their job claiming they have small wages and that parents should pay from their own pocket for their children’s education so that they feel that it doesn’t come for free.

The Prime Minister’s official motivation to change Bostan was that public institutions have different IT systems that are not compatible to each other and that the minister hasn’t done enough to better coordinate public IT projects. The Prime Minister’s chief of staff Dan Tudorache will be acting communications minister in the next few weeks until Ciolos decides on a new person for this position.

Transport minister Dan Costescu also made a controversial statement earlier this week when he said that “train rides are a luxury”, which is why its normal that train rides are more expensive than car transport. Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos also said that he wanted highway projects to be accelerated and that the National Highways Company needed to be restructured faster. He named Sorin Buse, a former general manager of Renault Technologie Roumanie, to take over this hot portfolio.

Education minister Adrian Curaj was also changed as the new committee that evaluates academic titles has started off slowly. The National Council for Attesting University Titles, Diplomas, and Certificates (CNATDCU) should evaluate the doctoral theses of several high profile officials, including some members of the current Government, who have been accused of plagiarism. So far, CNATDCU only issued one decision in the case of former Prime Minister Victor Ponta. The council ruled that Ponta had plagiarized his doctoral thesis and should lose his Doctor of Law degree. Curaj will be replaced by Mircea Dumitru, the rector of the Bucharest University.

The fourth minister changed is the minister delegate for Romanians abroad Dan Stoenescu. This minister has the mission to inform Romanians abroad of the new ways to vote in the parliamentary elections and to try to bring more Romanians back home by showing them the opportunities the Government provides for those who come to set up new companies in the country. So far, these two initiatives had limited results. The new minister will be Maria Gligor, a former ambassador to Canada and Spain, two countries with significant Romanian communities.

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The technocrat government led by Dacian Ciolos ends its mandate at the end of this year after the parliamentary elections, when the new majority in Romania’s Parliament will name a new prime minister. Ciolos has already changed eight of the 23 ministers in his team, most of the changes coming after scandals.

Former culture minister Vlad Alexandrescu left after the scandal at the Bucharest Opera while former health minister Patriciu Achimas Cadariu was changed amid the diluted hospital disinfectants scandal.

The labor minister left amid negotiations with the unions on the new law on wages in the public sector and the EU funds minister was changed as Romania hasn’t attracted any funds from the 2014-2020 allocation.

editor@romania-insider.com