In Romania there are one or two things to report.

Firstly, as expected, the Romanian parliament ratified the nomination of Emil Boc as prime minister on 22 December. He heads a coalition of somewhat uneasy bedfellows, the PD-L and the PSD.

Between now and then, one minister has already resigned. The Interior Minister was criticised by his own party, the PSD, for his appointment of the head of the country’s security services. The party did not approve the appointment and the Minister resigned. Bucharest Herald reports that he has since announced that he is leaving the PSD for good. There is speculation that he and his supporters may join the PD-L.

Finally, on 14 January, Southeast European Times reports that President Traian Basescu has proposed a constitutional reform. Perhaps most notably for the purposes of this blog, he has proposed that the two-chamber parliamentary system be replaced by a unicameral system. He argues that the current chambers are too alike in terms of powers and representation. (It is worth noting that a new PM has to be approved by a vote of both houses.) It might be remembered that parliament tried to impeach the president in 2007. This has lead the opposition to criticise the president and portray his suggestion as an attempt to get his own back on parliament.

Interestingly in the context of this blog, Bucharest Herald reports that President Besescu explicitly said that he supported Romania’s semi-presidential system.