Opening the Cabinet meeting today, Prime Minister Pavel Filip expressed his gratitude for the good work to the outgoing ministers who area leaving his cabinet following a reshuffle announced by the governing Democratic Party.

The premier stressed once again that the shakeup aimed to depoliticize the Government so that the pace of reforms would not lose momentum during 2018, which is an electoral year.

“(This Government) came after a period of crisis and we have managed to stabilize the situation. I’d like to stress that nobody questions your professionalism. By making this reorganization we will try to steer clear from politics as much as we can, so that we can discharge our executive duties, bearing in mind that 2018 will be a complicated year, an electoral year. We must not forget, however, that meanwhile people expect improved living standards”, stated Pavel Filip.

Six members—five ministers and a deputy prime minister—are replaced in the Filip Cabinet, and a position of deputy prime minister for European integration is added in a shakeup announced by the Democratic Party leadership on Tuesday.

Reintegration Deputy Prime Minister George Balan is replaced by Cristina Lesnic; Octavian Calmic is substituted by the former prime minister Chiril Gaburici as Minister of Economy and Infrastructure; In Stela Grigoras’s place, Svetlana Cebotari will take over as Minister of Health, Labor and Social Protection; at the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment, Vasile Bitca will be replaced by Liviu Volconovici, the rector of the Agrarian University; Foreign Minister Andrei Galbur will be substituted by Tudor Ulianovschi, currently ambassador to Geneva; and the former Constitutional Court chair Alexandru Tanase will replace Vladimir Cebotari as Minister of Justice. The former prime minister Iurie Leanca will fill the new position of European Integration Deputy Prime Minister.