Bogdan Olteanu, PNL (National Liberal Party), chairman of the Chamber of Deputies and one of the most influential people close to Premier Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, has told ZF in an interview, that one of the options the Liberals were considering in governmental restructuring was to merge the Ministry of Economy with the Ministry of Finance and also the Ministry of Agriculture with the Ministry of Environment.
The first two ministries are run by influential PNL members; Varujan Vosganian (Economy) is one of the most politically charismatic leaders, while Finance Minister Sebastian Vladescu is a close friend of the Prime Minister. The Agriculture Ministry is run by Dan Motreanu (PNL), while the Environment Ministry is headed by Sulfina Barbu (Democrat Party - PD).
"A team of our party is working on a formula for governmental restructuring, which will be submitted to Tariceanu for approval. One of these proposals is to reduce the number of ministries from the current 15 to 11 and also to merge the ministries of Economy and Finance using the French model, which entails three delegate ministers (within the new super ministry)," Olteanu says.
The merging of the Economy and Finance Ministries is the most radical government-restructuring proposal of the three considered by the parties in power over the past year.
If the ministry were established, it would be the biggest within the entire Government, with an administrative capacity of about 15-20% of the entire Cabinet.
The restructuring of the government has to pass parliamentary voting first and under current circumstances, the ruling coalition no longer has a parliamentary majority. If Parliament dismisses the restructuring proposal, the Government run by Calin Popescu Tariceanu will tumble.
Another option considered by the Liberals is dropping the positions of delegate ministers, with current state ministers from political parties set to have their own portfolios.
At present, only Marko Bela, UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania), retains his state minister position, after the Democrat Party gave up the nominations it was entitled to.
If this option were chosen, Olteanu explains, the state ministers will become regular ministers, though they will have their own portfolios, their numbers will decrease from the current 24 to around 16 or 17.
Romaniaes new status, as a member of the European Union, influences the discussions on restructuring inasmuch as some of the ministers will have to attend various European councils of member state ministers and the new structure will have to be compatible with those of the EUes, the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies explains.
The Agriculture Minister is now working with three European commissioners: the commissioner for agriculture, the commissioner for fishing and the commissioner for consumer protection; if the environment (ministry) is added, things will begin to get complicated, Olteanu says.
"You cannot consider the restructuring solely from an internal perspective which only takes into account the reduction of the number of ministers, you have to think technically, and not complicate things too much, on a European level," comments Olteanu.
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