CHISINAU (Reuters) -Moldova’s pro-European ruling party will nominate financier Alexandru Munteanu to be the country’s new prime minister, the head of the party, Igor Grosu, said on social media on Tuesday.
Munteanu, an economist who also founded an investment firm, has not previously held political office. He has worked outside the country for some 20 years.
“It is important for the country to have competent specialists with serious economic experience to move forward with European integration and developing the economy,” Grosu wrote.
Writing on Facebook, Munteanu said discussions were proceeding with the ruling Party of Action and Solidarity.
“I have not been a public figure and I understand the need to provide society with as much transparency and information as possible,” he wrote.
He said that he had worked for 10 years at the World Bank in Washington, where pro-European President Maia Sandu also worked.
Incumbent Prime Minister Dorin Recean, in office since February 2023, said on Monday he would step down and leave politics.
Sandu’s PAS clinched a majority in parliament following the September 28 election, and will appoint a new government in coming weeks tasked with taking former Soviet republic Moldova further out of Russia’s orbit.
Sandu has spearheaded the drive by Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries and which lies between Ukraine and Romania, to join the European Union by 2030.
Political analyst Vitalie Andrievschii said the choice of Munteanu appeared to indicate a lack of suitable candidates within Sandu’s ruling PAS at a sensitive time for Moldova’s EU membership bid.
“It is hard to say that this is the best candidature, as for many, he has appeared out of nowhere,” Andrievschii said.
“His nomination means that all issues in the country and within the ruling party are decided by one person – President Maia Sandu.”
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas; Writing by Max Hunder; Editing by Susan Fenton and Deepa Babington)