The cabinet of new Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu was approved by lawmakers on Thursday in a vote of confidence. Parliament passed Ungureanu's proposed cabinet nominations by a vote of 237 to two, allowing the country's government to move forward after former Prime Minister Emil Boc stepped down on Monday.

The opposition Social-Liberal Union abstained from voting altogether, and is trying to bring forward legislative elections that are currently scheduled for November.

"The Social-Liberal Union has decided not to take part in the vote, due to its reservations about several of the cabinet members," party leader Victor Ponta said.

Ungureanu was appointed by President Traian Basescu to form a new government earlier this week. A former foreign minister, he was working as the country's foreign intelligence chief at the time. Many of the cabinet members under Boc have been retained.

"We plan to create favorable conditions for Romania to join the eurozone in January 2015," Ungureanu told parliament on Thursday.

Possible roll-back of austerity measures

Romania has been struggling economically since 2009 when it was forced to take a bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. After the 20-billion-euro ($26.6-billion) infusion, Boc made drastic cuts to spending, which included slashing wages, raising taxes and freezing pensions.

The reforms were not received well by the people, and the angry public reaction was part of the reason Boc stepped down this week.

Ungureanu indicated that he would explore rolling back some of these measures and put the money received in the bailout to better use.

"We intend to moderately raise public sector wages and pensions if economic conditions allow it," he said.

However, he was still cautious when looking toward Romania's future.

"I don't come before you in these hard times to make unrealistic promises. An era of prosperity will not start tomorrow," Ungureanu said.

mz/msh (AFP, Reuters, dpa)