Romania designates prime minister to head new coalition
President Iohannis designated liberal economist Florin Citu
22 December, 23:11The three centre-right parties hold a combined 244 seats in the 465-seat parliament. Prior to entering politics, Citu worked for the Romanian division of Dutch bank ING and for the New Zealand central bank. "Romania is going through a double crisis, health and economic. The task of my government will be to overcome the health crisis with as low costs as possible and to take care of the economy," said Citu, speaking alongside Iohannis. His government will have to draw up the country's 2021 budget, organise the vaccination of the population against the coronavirus and reform an economy badly hit by the pandemic. The European Union on Monday gave the green light for inoculations with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to begin in all 27 EU nations after Christmas. Romania said it will start vaccination on December 27, beginning with medical staff in 10 hospitals across the country. (ANSA-AFP).