Corespondență de la Budapesta, semnată de Christopher Condon și publicată în ediția de marți, 28 decembrie, a cotidianului Financial Times, în care este prezentată situația actuală din țara noastră:
Romania's parliament is expected to approve today a youthful government headed by Calin Tariceanu, the prime minister-designate, who is eager to break with the Balkan state's ex-communist past and lead it to European Union membership in 2007.
The new government was formed over the weekend after Mr Tariceanu's centrist Justice and Truth Alliance party completed a coalition deal with two smaller parties.
This caps the victory of Traian Basescu, the ex-mayor of Bucharest, as president in elections on December 12, when he defeated long-serving prime minister Adrian Nastase.
The average age of nominees for six top posts in the cabinet, including foreign affairs, finance, and EU integration, is 37.
"The main reason for selecting these people is that it provides the government [with] a clear break with the past," said Alina Mungiu- Pippidi, director of the Romanian Academic Society, a think-tank.
Evenimentul Zilei, the liberal daily newspaper, termed the new cabinet "the government of hope".
Others, however, worried that it would lack experience in key posts needed to keep Romania on track to join the EU in January 2007. Membership could be delayed by a year if Romania fails to make continued reforms in several areas, most notably in fighting corruption.
Razvan Ungureanu, 36, a historian who studied at Oxford in England and speaks six languages, is to be foreign minister. He is a former deputy foreign minister.
Ionut Popescu, 40, an economist and former editor of a popular weekly business magazine, will be finance minister.
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