Liberal Ilie Bolojan was elected as the President of the Romanian Senate in Monday morning’s plenary session of the Chamber.
Senators were convened on Monday at 9:00, with the only item on the agenda being the election of the Chamber’s president.
Following a secret vote, the PNL leader, Ilie Bolojan, became the President of the Senate after receiving 70 votes.
What Bolojan aims for
Here is what Ilie Bolojan stated after winning the new position:
- I never thought I would become the President of the Romanian Senate. It was not an objective for me to hold this position, but I will do everything possible to represent the Senate and our country with dignity.
- For me, there are several important aspects in this role, and I hope you resonate with them as well.
- First and foremost, we should be able to generate the best possible laws, clear laws, not laws that just sound good but create problems as usual, but laws that solve issues, laws that create a good context for Romanians, for entrepreneurs to develop, and for our country to have a good direction in the coming years.
- One important thing for me is to reform the institutions under the Parliament's coordination.
- From my administrative experience of the past 20 years, they have been among the most inefficient institutions, and I believe we need to focus on them in such a way as to make them more efficient, closer to the people, and to generate better regulations in the areas they manage.
- Lastly, a very important issue is to increase trust in our parliamentary system and in the Romanian Parliament, including the Senate. I believe we need to fight for this, as you know we have the lowest level of trust among public institutions, and this very low level has repercussions in society. If we want more trust among people and better conditions, I think it is very important to strive for increasing the trust in parliamentarians, including the Romanian Senate.
During Sunday evening's joint meeting with PSD and UDMR to divide the portfolios of the new government, PNL accepted the position of President of the Senate, held by Ilie Bolojan, who decided not to be part of the government.
Also today, the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies was convened at 09:00, with the first item on the agenda being the election of the president. Additionally, the agenda included the vacating of certain positions in the Permanent Bureau and the election of new members.
President Klaus Iohannis announced that after the election of the presidents of the two Houses of Parliament, he will nominate a Prime Minister, followed by the government's vote.
On Sunday afternoon, Iohannis held consultations with parliamentary parties to designate a Prime Minister. Subsequently, PSD, PNL, UDMR, and the minorities agreed on the list of ministerial proposals.