Romanian President Iohannis accepts PSD nomination and designates Viorica Dancila as prime minister

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis announced on Wednesday that he decided to accept Social Democratic Party’s (PSD) nomination for prime minister, MEP Viorica Dancila. He said he made the decision considering the Constitution, the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the fact that the PSD and their allies held a majority in the Parliament.

• More on the stakes of Iohannis’ decision – here

He said he „decided to give the PSD another chance” to govern.

He did not make any comment on the background of Viorica Dancila, on the leadership of the PSD or the fact that two governments led by the party failed in just a year since gaining parliamentary majority in general elections.

Viorica Dancila, 54, has been serving as a member of the European Parliament since late 2000’s. She is seen as a crony of PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, who is the speaker of the House but cannot serve as PM because of a suspended sentence under corruption-related charges. Before being elected for the EP (due partly to the fact that two better placed PSD candidates opted to withdraw at the time), she’s served for a long time in the local administration in the region who Dragnea used to govern as head of a county council before rising o national prominence. She once tried to run for mayor in her small home town of Videle, South Romania, but failed.

She has been a supporter of the moves of the PSD to change the laws of justice, seen by critics as a means to put an end to the fight against corruption in Romania.

The PSD nominated Dancila after PM Mihai Tudose decided to resign on Monday, following a fight for party leadership with Liviu Dragnea. Tudose was the second PSD PM to do so in less than a year, after his predecessor, Sorin Grindeanu, was forced out in similar circumstances last summer.​