BUCHAREST: Former EU agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos was on Tuesday appointed Romania’s new prime minister, following the resignation last week of Victor Ponta after mass anti-government protests sparked by a deadly nightclub fire.

“I designate Dacian Ciolos for the post of prime minister,” President Klaus Iohannis said, after discussions with political parties on the formation of a new government.

“We need an independent prime minister, or a what we could call a technocrat — a person of integrity who has not been implicated in scandals and who has been shown to be capable of managing complicated situations.”

Thousands of Romanians have taken to the streets in mass anti-government protests since the deadly Oct. 30 blaze at the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest, which left 46 dead and scores injured, 15 of whom remain in a critical condition.

Many viewed compromised safety standards at the club as emblematic of a wider problem with rampant corruption in one of the European Union’s poorest nations.

Iohannis appealed for protesters’ support on Sunday in reforming the country, but was met with shouted slogans and whistles from demonstrators seeking “profound change” as he paid a visit to Bucharest’s University Square, the focal point of nearly a week of protests.

Ponta, who had been under pressure for weeks as he goes on trial on corruption charges, quit last week, saying it was right for top officials to take responsibility for the nightclub fire.

Ciolos, who was EU agriculture commissioner from 2010 to 2014, has since July been special adviser on international food security for European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

The 46-year-old was minister of agriculture in Romania’s center-right government between 2007 and 2008.