Next Prime Minister Names His Cabinet

Romania’s prime minister-designate, Calin Tariceanu, named a centrist Cabinet of fresh faces to lead the country on the difficult path to European Union membership in 2007.

Two young intellectuals will hold key posts. Economist Ionut Popescu, 40, was named finance minister, and 36-year-old historian Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu will be foreign minister in a government made up largely of unknowns.

“I want to stress that the criteria were competence and moral integrity,” Tariceanu said before reading the list of Cabinet ministers.

After inconclusive elections Nov. 28, Tariceanu secured the support of smaller parties to form a government and will seek a confidence vote in parliament this week.