PNL

Romania's liberal Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca on Friday said he will remain the head of government until the government solves the school strike. "I decided not to submit my [governing] mandate," Ciuca said, without taking questions from the press.

More than 150,000 teachers in Romania went on a strike on Monday demanding higher salaries as the governing coalition parties prepare to replace Nicolae Ciuca, from the National Liberal Party, PNL, as Prime Minister with Marcel Ciolacu, leader of the Social Democratic Party, PSD.

"Anti-Semitic discourses have not disappeared from Romanian political life in the last 30 years," said Oliver Jens Schmitt, professor of Southeast European history at the University of Vienna.

"AUR is trying to address as large a group of protesting voters as possible," he said, and politics is getting in the way of any substantive response.

Romania's parliament swore in a government led by new Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca on Thursday, with 318 votes out of 466.

The new majority comprises the National Liberal Party, PNL, the Social Democratic Party, PSD, and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, UDMR.

President Klaus Iohannis nominated the former defence minister and reserve general Nicolae Ciuca as Romania's next Prime Minister of Romania on Monday after talks with most parties in parliament.

Romanian political parties spent about 111.7 million lei [about 22.56 million euros] from January to September this year on "mass media and propaganda", according to official data provided by the Romanian Permanent Electoral Authority, AEP.

A week after the previous government was ousted, President Klaus Iohannis said on Monday that he has put forward Dacian Ciolos of the Save Romania Union, USR, as his choice for the next premier.

The government of Prime Minister Florin Citu of the National Liberal Party, PNL was toppled on Tuesday after a large majority of MPs backed a no-confidence motion filed last week by the main opposition Social Democratic Party, PSD.

In a tight contest, Prime Minister Florin Citu will battle ex-Prime Minister and current head of Romania's Chamber of Deputies, Ludovic Orban, for the leadership of the centre-right National Liberal Party, PNL at a party congress on Saturday.

Ministers from the USR-PLUS party resigned from the cabinet on Tuesday after Prime Minister Florin Citu dismissed Justice Minister Stelian Ion, an USR PLUS member.

"We have registered and submitted the resignations, together with the USR-PLUS ministers, at the premier's office. We are moving forward,' Dan Barna, the co-president of USR-PLUS, wrote on Facebook.