Aureliu Ciocoi — acting prime minister 2020–2021

Cabinet

Not officially confirmed

The points below come from the press or encyclopedias and could not be checked against Parliament decisions, decrees or the Official Gazette.

First name: “Aureliu” (Moldpres, IPN) or “Aurel” (RFE/RL); we use “Aureliu”. The official gov.md bio could not be opened.

Chicu Cabinet (caretaker, acting PM) 31 December 2020 – 6 August 2021 · 218 days

President: Maia Sandu
Political backing: Outgoing caretaker government with limited powers, without a supporting parliamentary coalition.
How the mandate began: Named acting prime minister by presidential decree signed on 31 December 2020 (a decree appointing the acting foreign affairs and European integration minister as acting prime minister) after the resigned Ion Chicu refused to stay on as caretaker; Sandu cited the constitutional requirement to pick the acting PM from among the ministers. There was no investiture vote in Parliament.
How it ended: The interim role ended on 6 August 2021, when Parliament invested the Gavrilița government (61 votes) and it was sworn in, after the snap parliamentary elections of 11 July 2021.

Events

31 December 2020: named acting PM by presidential decree; Chicu had earlier designated Deputy PM Olga Cebotari as interim, but Sandu chose a minister of the outgoing cabinet.
January 2021: Sandu asks the Constitutional Court to allow Parliament to be dissolved for early elections.
February 2021: Natalia Gavrilița's bid for prime minister is rejected by the PSRM-Șor majority.
11 July 2021: snap parliamentary elections won by PAS.
6 August 2021: hands over to the Gavrilița government.

Education

Studied journalism at Moldova State University (1985-1992) and international relations at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest (1992-1994).

Background

Party: Non-partisan (career diplomat)

Aureliu Ciocoi was born on 5 June 1968 in Chișinău. He served in the Soviet border troops (1986-1988) and studied journalism in Chișinău and then international relations in Bucharest. A USSR Master of Sport in shooting, he began his career as a daily-newspaper journalist.

As a diplomat he was ambassador to Germany and Denmark (2010-2015), then to China and Vietnam (2015-2017) and briefly to the United States (2017). From 2018 to 2019 he advised President Igor Dodon on foreign policy. He led the Foreign Ministry in the Chicu Cabinet, with a gap between March and November 2020.

On 31 December 2020 President Maia Sandu named him acting prime minister after Ion Chicu refused to remain in that role. Ciocoi headed an outgoing government with limited powers while awaiting the early elections Sandu was pushing for. He stayed until the Gavrilița government was invested on 6 August 2021.

After office

He returned to diplomacy; according to English Wikipedia he serves as Moldova's ambassador to Germany.