Ex-Romanian PM Ciolos to submit file to establish new political party

Former Romanian PM Dacian Ciolos, who has been pressed to enter politics after a year as head of a technocratic government, announced on Wednesday that documents for the establishment of a new political party, due to run in European elections, would be submitted within two weeks, according to Agerpres news agency.

He did not mention the name of the future party, but said that the civic platform he currently runs, the Romania 100 Platform, would remain a civic movement.

Dacian Ciolos, a former European commissioner who stood away from Romanian politics, led a technocratic government in 2016. His government managed a series of reforms despite functioning under a parliamentary majority led by the current governing party, the Social Democrats.

His government had to go in the wake of the 2016 elections, when the winning PSD-led alliance took over. Since then, he has been pressed to enter politics and oppose the PSD openly, but he hardly made any move until recently.

On Wednesday, he said that he and his team started a civic movement with the Romania 100 Platform and they would continue with a political movement. He said that the program of the future party has been in the works for a year.