Prime minister submits cabinet as defense nominee faces indictment
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Prime minister-designate Luca Niculescu has submitted his cabinet to parliament, formally bringing the Social Democrats (PSD) into government with 11 ministers. The PSD, which once toppled a government to block the privatization of state companies, has now agreed to a program that includes them. The party has six months before the prime minister conducts a formal evaluation of their performance.
The new alliance is being tested before it is even sworn in. Radu Oprea, the nominee for the defense ministry, has been indicted for money laundering, while eight crew members are missing from a chemical tanker that caught fire near Sulina following drone incursions. Elsewhere, the Bucharest Stock Exchange is assessing the damage after a cyber attack on its depository left personal data exposed to hackers.
The bureaucracy is proving expensive in other sectors. The national road company spent 850,000 lei developing an online toll system for the Giurgiu Bridge, only to abolish the tax a few months after the software was finished. Meanwhile, health officials are searching for three million active citizens who are not paying insurance and whose whereabouts remain unknown.