Romanian Government Forced to Resign

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta and his government have resigned as a result of massive protests over a nightclub fire in the Bucharest that killed over 50 people. Twenty thousand people gathered in Bucharest to protest the fire, which they saw as resulting from corruption that led to lax safety standards. This view was seemingly confirmed when President Klaus Iohannis described the nightclub as “completely unfit” and the head of Romania’s emergency rescue service claimed that no permits had been issued to the nightclub for either fireworks or a gathering of the size that occurred during the night of the fire.

Prime Minister Ponta had already faced scrutiny earlier this year in September when he was put on trial for corruption, becoming the first Romanian Prime Minister to face corruption charges while in office.

Last Tuesday, Dacian Ciolos was selected to replace Ponta as prime minister, and was described by President Iohannis as “an independent prime minister, a clean person with integrity.” Ciolos had earlier served as Romania’s agriculture minister and as Agriculture Commissioner for the European Commission. He began by appointing a cabinet of technocrats and will now face the challenge of preparing a budget for next year.