Romania has a new finance minister, Dan Vilceanu, a 42-year old economist who is at his second mandate in Romania’s Parliament.

Vilceanu was sworn in on Wednesday, August 18, in a brief ceremony attended by president Klaus Iohannis in which nobody held any speech, News.ro reported.

The new finance minister’s appointment marks a significant victory by prime minister Florin Citu over his party leader Ludovic Orban. The PM was the one who proposed Vilceanu for this position and managed to get his Liberal colleagues to support this nomination in a meeting of the party’s leadership on Tuesday evening. Only one of the Liberal leaders voted against Citu’s proposal, namely party leader Ludovic Orban, who expressed serious concerns about this nomination.

PM Citu and Orban are competing for the top position in the National Liberal Party, and the internal elections will take place at the end of September.

Citu’s decision to dismiss former finance minister Alexandru Nazare in June was also connected to the internal power battle. Orban criticized Citu for taking this decision without consulting him or the party. The local media reported that the PM was allegedly unhappy with Nazare’s support for Orban’s campaign.

The new finance minister, Dan Vilceanu, has been working since 2004 for a local energy company owned by his family. In 2016, he won a seat in Parliament on the ticket of the National Liberal Party (PNL). However, he started his political career as a member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and later joined the Liberal Democratic Party (PDL), which then merged with PNL.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)