Romanian President Nominates Soviet Ukraine-Born Eugen Tomac as Prime Minister Candidate

Romanian President Nicușor Dan has nominated Eugen Tomac as a candidate for prime minister, opening a new and unusual stage in Romania’s political crisis: the possible appointment of a Romanian head of government born in the former Soviet Union, in what was then Soviet Ukraine.

The announcement was made on Thursday evening, with President Dan saying that Romania needs a prime minister who is independent of the parties in Parliament, but experienced enough to negotiate with them.

“I nominate Mr Eugen Tomac to form the Government from the position of prime minister,” President Nicușor Dan said at the beginning of his press conference.

Tomac must now try to build a parliamentary majority, present a governing programme and propose a full cabinet. Under Romania’s Constitution, the prime minister-designate has 10 days to request Parliament’s vote of confidence.

A Soviet Ukraine-Born Politician Could Lead Romania’s Government

For some, Romania’s Government building could look like the one in the picture above, and not without a reason.

Eugen Tomac’s personal background makes the nomination one of the most unusual in Romania’s post-communist political history.

He was born in 1981 in Babele, a village in southern Bessarabia, then part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and today located in Ukraine’s Odesa region.

Tomac arrived in Romania as a teenager through a scholarship programme for ethnic Romanians living outside the country’s borders. He later studied history at the University of Bucharest and built much of his political profile around the Romanian diaspora and Romanian communities in Moldova, Ukraine and other neighbouring regions.

If confirmed by Parliament, Tomac would become a Romanian prime minister born outside Romania’s current borders, in a territory that was part of the Soviet Union at the time of his birth.

Why Nicușor Dan Chose Eugen Tomac

President Nicușor Dan presented the decision as a response to the political blockage created by parties that, in his words, “do not understand each other.”

The president argued that Romania needs a government capable of maintaining the country’s pro-Western direction, protecting financial stability, completing the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, preparing the 2027 budget, reforming state institutions, accelerating digitalisation and limiting corruption.

His message was also aimed directly at political parties. Nicușor Dan described the nomination as an act of responsibility and said he expected the same responsibility from Parliament.

The choice is politically risky. Tomac does not control a major parliamentary party and will need support from forces that have already failed to agree on a stable governing formula.

From Traian Băsescu’s Circle to the European Parliament

Tomac has long been associated with former Romanian President Traian Băsescu, who played a decisive role in his political rise. He later became president of the People’s Movement Party, the political formation connected to Băsescu’s post-presidential camp.

Since 2019, Tomac has served as a Member of the European Parliament, a member of the Renew Group, representing Romania. His political profile is pro-European, pro-NATO and strongly connected to the theme of Romanians abroad.

In October 2025, Nicușor Dan appointed him as an honorary presidential adviser for relations with Romanians abroad, bringing him closer to the presidential administration amid rising political instability.

The Parliamentary Test

The nomination does not automatically make Tomac prime minister. He must obtain the vote of the majority of deputies and senators.

That is the real test. Romania’s fragmented Parliament has already struggled to produce a durable political agreement, and any cabinet proposed by Tomac would depend on negotiations with parties that have different interests, red lines, and calculations ahead of the next electoral cycle.

For the president, Tomac appears to be a compromise figure: not a party heavyweight from the current parliamentary conflict, but not a purely technocratic name either.

For Parliament, however, the question is whether such a profile is enough to produce a functioning government.

Romania’s Fiscal Problem Cannot Wait

The political crisis comes at a time when Romania is under pressure to correct one of the European Union’s largest budget deficits.

A new government would have to make decisions that are politically costly from the first weeks in office. Spending control, possible tax measures, administrative reform, and negotiations with Brussels would all land immediately on the desk of the next prime minister.

This is why the nomination of Eugen Tomac is not only a political move. It is also a test of whether Romania’s institutions can still produce a government capable of acting under fiscal pressure.

A Symbolic Nomination With an Uncertain Outcome

Eugen Tomac’s nomination carries clear symbolism. He represents a Romanian political identity shaped beyond the country’s current borders, linked to the history of Romanians in former Soviet territories and to Bucharest’s relationship with Moldova and Ukraine.

But symbolism will not be enough.

Tomac now has to prove that he can do what the parties have failed to do so far: build a majority, form a cabinet and convince Parliament that he can lead Romania through a politically and financially difficult period.

If he succeeds, Romania will have one of the most unusual prime ministerial profiles in its modern history. If he fails, the country’s political crisis will deepen, and President Nicușor Dan will be forced to search for another solution.