Political Report on the Newly Appointed Cabinet
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Political Report on the Newly Appointed Cabinet November 17, 2015 ISSUE MONITORING A document prepared by: The Centre for Public Policies Monitoring The new Cabinet that received the vote of confidence earlier today is thought to be a bridge between the current political crisis and the 2016 general elections. Born out of major demonstrations by protesters angered by the lethargy in the Government, the new Cabinet has come up with a Governing Program that aims to include the civil society in the legislative process, as well as new rules for the forthcoming elections. Yet another pressing issue concerns the approval of the budget for 2016, while balancing the lowered taxes and higher wages for civil servants. With PSD-ALDE pushing for either maintaining or lowering the taxation level, as well as for continuing the policies initiated by former PM Victor Ponta in order to secure a 4.1% economic growth level in 2016, recently appointed Prime Minister Dacian Cioloș and his new Cabinet have to decide whether to maintain the current status-quo or to implement reforms, within a limited timeframe. According to the Governing Plan, Dacian Cioloș plans to create a dialogue between the Government on the one hand, and the civil society and the business environment on the other hand, especially when it comes to matters such as drafting a 10-year national investment plan. Another point of interest is the decentralization and reorganization of the public administration, which is to be run according to European Commission standards. Healthcare, agriculture and education are key priorities for the new Government. The Ministry of Health will coordinate the reform of the healthcare system, with a focus on education and prevention, while encouraging the development of private health insurance policies. The Ministry of Agriculture will supervise the "efficient implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy", while the Ministry of Education will initiate the curricular reform, as well as correlate the education strategy to the needs of the market. Dacian Cioloș has proposed an economically liberal, business-oriented Government, which aims at "encouraging a culture of labor and individual and social responsibility." The higher stake for the new Cabinet is to lay down the foundations for structural reforms to be continued after 2016. The limited timeframe may however hinder reforms, especially if the Government does not get the support of the MPs, the same politicians who think of the Government as being formed by the ruling party. issuemonitoring.ro List of Ministers Prime Minister — Dacian Cioloș Dacian Cioloș graduated from the Horticulture Faculty of the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (USAMV) in Cluj in 1994 and then obtained his diploma in Advanced Agronomy, specializing in "Systems of Rural Production and Development," from the Ecole Nationale Superieure Agronomique, ENSA, in Rennes, France. Ciolos participated in courses on agriculture and trade organized by the World Bank Institute and University Roma III (October 2005). Dacian Ciolos is not affiliated with any political party. During his term as EU commissioner, Cioloș widely perceived as being influenced by France. Many called him “the second French Commissioner” in the Barroso team. Cioloș briefly worked as Agriculture Minister from October 2007 to December 2008 in the cabinet of Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, a liberal politician. Cioloș didn’t spend much time in public office in Romania. Before becoming Commissioner in 2009, he worked for the European Commission's delegation to Romania, and before that, as a scholar on internships in France. The former Commissioner is perceived as politically independent, although in the Barroso Commission, he was considered to be affiliated with the centre-right European Peoples’ Party (EPP). The reason is that he was nominated by Romania's then-President, Traian Băsescu, an EPP-affiliated politician. Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Economy, Trade, Relations with Business Environment — Costin Grigore Borc Costin Grigore Borc is a graduate of the Energetics Faculty, Hydro-energetics major (1989), of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, an institution where he also graduated a master's course. He completed doctoral studies in economy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2000). He worked for 15 years in the structures of French company Lafarge, starting from the Project Manager position within Lafarge North America (2000-2001). In August 2015, he has become Managing Director of CRH Romania — the new name of the Lafarge company. issuemonitoring.ro Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Development and Public Administration — Vasile Dâncu Vasile Dâncu has graduated the History and Philosophy Faculty of Cluj and has obtained a Ph.D. in Sociology in 2008. He was a Minister for Public Information (December 28, 2000 — June 19, 2003), in the Adrian Nastase Government. In 2003, following governmental restructuring, when the Ministry for Public Information was transformed into the Agency for Governmental Strategy, he remained at the helm, until 2004. He is a founding member of the Romanian Association for Evaluation and Strategy — ARES, a member of the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research, and he coordinates the Sociology of Communication, Knowledge and Information Technology Department of the Romanian Sociologists' Society. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development — Achim Irimescu Achim Irimescu (57) graduated from the Car-Building Technologies Faculty of the Bucharest Polytechnic University in 1983 and holds a Ph.D. in Economy. He has taken part in several specialized courses and internships: Common Agricultural Policy in Greece, a three-month internship at the European Commission — Directorate General Agriculture and Rural Development (1995); company management — course organized by the Agriculture Ministry through the PHARE program (1998); studied English and French at the Ferdinand Cocq Institute in Brussels (2000). In the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), he was head of service, superior adviser (Aug. 1990 — Nov. 1998) and State Secretary (May 2012 — February 2014). He has occupied several positions in European authorities: minister-adviser, head of Agriculture service of the Romanian permanent mission to the EU, as well as Romania's representative in the Special Committee on Agriculture of the European Council. European funds absorption is the major issue of his term, as Irimescu warned, Romania risks disengaging EUR 1 billion on rural development and almost 40% of the fishing funds. He highlighted that the complicated procedures for accessing EU funds is the main cause slowing down the absorption process. You can access his CV here. issuemonitoring.ro Minister of Public Finances — Anca Dragu Paliu (42) is an economist in the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission since 2013. Dragu was also an economist with the National Bank of Romania between 1996 and 2001 and an economist with the IMF Bucharest Bureau since 2001. She is 42 and she graduated the Economic Studies Academy (ASE) in Bucharest. She has completed a master's degree in Public Policies and European Institutions at the Bucharest National School for Political and Administrative Studies (SNSPA) (2005-2007). Anca Dana Dragu Paliu is expected to have a difficult couple of months of her term as she has to supervise the creation of a balanced budget while dealing with the previous Government's slashing taxes and rising the civil servants' wages. Her main objectives are: completing the budget, the increase of Romanian economy's potential, growth of public investments, as well as an improvement of the tax revenue collection by speeding up the informatization process You can access Anca Dragu Paliu's CV here. Minister of Health — Patriciu Achimas-Cadariu (39 years old) is the director of the Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuță Oncological Institute of Cluj Napoca. In parallel with his medical activity, he followed an academic path as well, becoming an assistant professor in 2004 and a lecturer in 2010, at the Faculty of Medicine of the Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Cluj Napoca. He also taught, through the Erasmus programme, at Charite — Universitatsmedizin, the largest university hospital in Berlin, associated with the Humboldt University and Freie Universität Berlin. During the hearings, Achimaș-Cadariu assured the Committee members of his credentials and experience with the 'real healthcare system'. On the Healthcare Law he stated that there are three key dimensions: school medicine, community medicine and malpractice. "It takes time. I am not mentioning any deadlines, yet it cannot be done before next year's second half." You can access Patriciu Achimas-Cadariu's CV here. issuemonitoring.ro Minister of Internal Affairs- Petre Tobă Petre Tobă (51) has graduated the Construction Equipment Faculty of the Bucharest Institute for Constructions (1989) and the Law School of the Alexandru Ioan Cuza Police Academy (2000), and holds a PhD in military science and information (2011) at the Carol I National Defence University. Since May 2012, he has held the position of General Inspector of the Romanian Police. Since March 11, 2015, General Quaestor Petre Toba also holds the rank of State Secretary, after President Klaus Iohannis has promulgated the law that grants this status to the head of the Romanian Police, the appointment to the position being made by the Prime Minister. The