Romanian PM Ciolacu Nominates Victor Negrescu for EU Commissioner

On Thursday, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu proposed Victor Negrescu, PSD MEP and vice-president of the European Parliament, for the position of European Commissioner from Romania.

Romanian PM Ciolacu has met today, in Brussels, with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with whom he will also discuss the future European Commissioner from Romania. Other topics addressed will be the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), where Romania is trying to obtain approval for Payment Request 3, and the budget deficit, where our country must present solutions to decrease it.

“We went with a name, he is the current vice-president of the European Parliament, Mr. Victor Negrescu. I hope that by Monday at the latest we will submit the proposal from the Government of Romania. This attribute is exclusive to the prime minister, but, as is normal – and I have already established with Mr. President (PNL) Nicolae Ciucă -, we will have a discussion in the next few days”, said Marcel Ciolacu after the meeting with Ursula von der Leyen . “I will also have a discussion with the president of Romania, because the president is Romania’s representative in the European Council”, added Marcel Ciolacu, specifying that he wants to negotiate a portfolio “as relevant as possible” for Romania.

39-year old Victor Negrescu is a MEP PSD, vice president of the European Parliament, member of the Committee for Budgets and the Committee for Legal Affairs in EP. He has been an MEP since 2014, with a short break between 2017 and 2018 when he was Minister for European Affairs.

Victor Negrescu also worked at the beginning of his career as an adviser to the Romanian Parliament, the European Parliament and the Ministry of Energy.

The PNL has voiced dissatisfaction with the Victor Negrescu solution, especially given that there were no discussions in the coalition about the future European commissioner from our country.

But PSD MEP Mihai Tudose claimed that the nomination of the commissioner is the exclusive attribute of the government, so there would be no need for coalition consultations.