PM Munteanu will visit Romania and Brussels: new ministers target investments and 100,000 new jobs
Alexandru Munteanu, the newly appointed Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, will embark on his first official visits to Bucharest and Brussels following his inauguration. He also plans to restart dialogue with the United States. The objectives of the Munteanu Cabinet include fostering economic growth, attracting investments, finalizing the budget for 2026, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, assisting 100,000 individuals in finding jobs, and constructing a new philharmonic hall.
Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu stated, “As I promised my colleagues and the team, we will strive to demonstrate results in the short, medium, and long term. Our measures primarily aim to promote economic development. We want to reignite economic growth and attract as many investments as possible to the Republic of Moldova.” This declaration was made following the swearing-in ceremony held on November 1 at the Presidency.
When asked about his first official visit as Prime Minister, Munteanu mentioned that no decision has been made yet, as he intends to first address “our problems at home.”
He later confirmed that he would “certainly meet with our neighbors, including my colleague from Romania.” Additionally, he noted, “We will have to engage with our strategic partner, the European Union. Therefore, a trip to Brussels is necessary. As for the United States, I don’t anticipate travelling to Washington soon, but we must begin dialogue with them as well.”
Deputy Prime Minister Eugen Osmochescu, Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization, emphasized that his work at the ministry would focus on the objective of achieving European Union accession.
“At the ministry, we will manage nine chapters of negotiations with the European Union. Our primary focus will be to promote a production-based economy. To accomplish this, we must attract investments, support small and medium-sized enterprises, and collaborate with producers in the Republic of Moldova to create new value chains for both domestic consumption and international markets. This approach will help us promote exports”, said Eugen Osmochescu.
In the long term, the new Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization aims to transform, by the end of his four-year mandate, the Organization for the Development of Entrepreneurship “into an investment bank, as it is in Romania”.
“We have money, we must learn to capitalize on it”
Finance Minister Andrian Gavriliță presented his plans for the first three days in his new position: “on Monday we have to work on rectifying the 2025 budget and checking liquidity, on Tuesday we make sure that everyone is working on the 2026 budget and on Wednesday we start the reform”.
After taking the oath of office, Gavriliță promised a “maximum friendly” tax system for citizens and entrepreneurs, as well as fast and efficient public investments.
"As the Prime Minister said, we are in a period with a rare problem: we have more than enough money for investments, we must learn to capitalize on it very efficiently and quickly and with maximum return for citizens. Three - the modernization and, in some places, the simplification of the financial system. We have a trauma to overcome, we have to offer new investment opportunities for citizens, we have to help the diaspora to bring, as I said, not only their money home, but also to create investment opportunities for them and, at the same time, to educate more about a country that invests, not a country that consumes", the new Minister of Finance emphasized.
Minister of Labor and Social Protection, Natalia Plugaru, aims to continue providing support for "everyone" - young families, those with children, for people with disabilities, the unemployed, etc.
“We have a specific target - to create 5,000 places in nurseries, so that young families, especially women, have the opportunity to return to work and leave their children in nurseries. We will continue to work to employ people in the workforce. We also have a very clear target - in four years of mandate we want to support over 100,000 people to find a job. We will focus on women, young people, people with disabilities, we will also work with employers to offer them the necessary subsidies to include as many people with reduced skills or mobility as possible to reintegrate into the labor market,” said Natalia Plugaru.
Finalizing the vetting, the priority of the new Minister of Justice
At the same time, the new Minister of Culture, Cristian Jardan, believes that the institution he leads will advance in three major projects – the construction of a new headquarters for the National Philharmonic "Serghei Lunchevici", which burned down completely five years ago, the rehabilitation of the Circus and the development of the Center for Culture and Contemporary Arts "Universul".
"The Philharmonic, unfortunately, is an expensive project. According to the first information, it is about 10 million euros, money that must be identified. But I think it is realistic that, in these four years, we will advance a lot all three major projects, to have them completed", declared Cristina Jardan, after taking the oath of office as Minister of Culture.
The new Minister of Justice, Vladislav Cojuhari, will focus on completing the external evaluation processes for judges and prosecutors, while not including lawyers in this initiative.
“Lawyers are a very important and distinct element of the legal system, and we need to engage in a continuous dialogue about potential admission measures to the legal profession,” Cojuhari stated. He promised to maintain effective communication with all legal professionals in the Republic of Moldova.
