Romania to vote for first female premier amid protests

BUCHAREST — The woman expected to become Romania's first female prime minister and the third premier in a year promised yesterday to raise wages and reduce bureaucracy ahead of a vote in parliament.

Viorica Dancila, 54, is expected to win enough votes to lead the left-wing government, which faces protests and criticism from the European Union over legislation it is passing that critics say will make it hard to prosecute high-level corruption.

Dancila has voiced support for the proposals, which include banning the use of audio and video recordings in prosecutions. She is a member of the European Parliament and was a relative unknown in domestic politics until this month.

Other aspects of the proposal include holding judges personally responsible for erroneous rulings and seek to recover financial damages from them, and limiting the president from nominating or rejecting key prosecutors.

Dancila will likely act in the role of an administrator, with government policy decided by powerful Social Democrat chairman Liviu Dragnea, who can't be premier because of a conviction for vote-rigging.

A court froze Dragnea's assets in November over a charge of embezzling EU funds. He denies wrongdoing.

Dancila was booed by a small group of protesters as she arrived at Parliament before the vote.

"The goal of my mandate is for Romania in 2020 to be in the top half of the EU's strongest economies so that young people no longer leave from Romania, and those that have left want to return," Dancila told lawmakers.

Dancila vowed to reduce bureaucracy, to raise wages, and build hundreds of kilometers (miles) of new highways and railway lines by 2020.

The 27 ministers, some themselves subjects of corruption probes, appeared before a parliamentary committee before the vote.

One of the four deputy prime ministers, Paul Stanescu, is facing a probe for illegally financing a soccer club while the former minister for European Funds, Rovana Plumb, saw an investigation into the illegal transfer of land halted after parliament refused to lift her immunity. She denies wrongdoing.