Sorin Grindeanu appointed as Prime Minister of Romania

Social-democrat Sorin Grindeanu was on 30 December 2016 named as the Prime Minister of Romania. Romania's President Klaus Iohannis signed the official decree naming Grindeanu as the new Prime Minister.

By doing so, Iohannis turned down the appointment of Sevil Shhaideh, an economist who could have become the first female Muslim PM of Romania.

He will now face a confidence vote in the Romanian Parliament on his programme and cabinet nominees. Once his appointment is approved, he will be given 10 days to name the government ministers.

About Sorin Grindeanu
• Grindeanu is a member of the Social Democratic Party that won the December 2016 elections.
• He is also the Chairman of the Timis county council.
• Grindeanu is seen in Romania as a disciplined soldier within the Social Democratic Party ranks and had joined the party when he was very young to prove his leftist convictions.
• He graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics of Timisoara West University in 1997.
• He also served as Minister of Telecommunications and Information Society in Victor Ponta's cabinet.

Background
The appointment of Sorin Grindeanu as the Prime Minister will now put an end to a political crisis that was sparked by the Iohannis's rejection of Sevil Shhaideh as the Prime Minister. The president offered no reasons for his rejection of Shhaideh.

However, there was speculation that it was due to her Syrian husband's background. He worked in the Syrian Agriculture Ministry for 20 years before emigrating to Romania in 2011.

Shhaideh's name was proposed by the Social Democratic Party after its thumping poll victory on in December 2016 elections when it won 45 percent of the vote that was enough to form a majority coalition with its partners The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE).