Mihaela-Ilincuța Ștefan-Simion was appointed chief of staff to Prime Minister Luca Niculescu, with the rank of secretary of state

Nicoleta Onofrei

22 October 2026, 08:11

Current Affairs

Luca Niculescu / FOTO: INQUAM_Photos_Octav_Ganea

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Mihaela-Ilincuța Ștefan-Simion was appointed on Wednesday as chief of staff to Prime Minister Luca Niculescu, a position with the rank of state secretary within the Prime Minister’s Chancellery. The decision was published in the Official Gazette and takes effect from the date it enters into force.

Ștefan-Simion has had a career spanning more than a decade at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has worked at the MFA since 2011, and in 2018 she became a diplomatic adviser, according to NewsCenter, according to HotNews.ro. Between 2023 and 2024, she was chief of staff to Foreign Minister Luminița Odobescu in the first government led by Marcel Ciolacu. Previously, between 2022 and 2023, she served as director general of the European Union Department at the MFA.

In 2024, President Klaus Iohannis awarded her the diplomatic rank of ambassador.

According to her most recent wealth declaration, completed in 2024, Mihaela Ștefan-Simion owns a 90-square-meter apartment in Bucharest, purchased in 2013, a BMW manufactured in 2019, and half of a 100-square-meter house and the adjoining land in Brăila, inherited in 2024. In 2023, she declared income of 126,799 lei from the MFA. Her husband, Adrian Constantin Simion, also employed in diplomacy, declared income of 116,539 lei. The family declared no loans, debts, or bank deposits.

Context: after Luca Niculescu’s swearing-in, the prime minister began the series of handovers of ministerial mandates

Before Mihaela Ștefan-Simion was appointed as chief of staff to the prime minister, the Romanian Parliament approved the formation of the new Government led by Luca Niculescu, with 280 votes “in favor,” the required threshold being 233. Subsequently, the cabinet was due to take the oath before President Nicușor Dan, and on the same day the prime minister attended the ceremonies for the handover of mandates by five ministers: at the Ministry of Investments and European Projects, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Culture.

Procedurally, Luca Niculescu’s candidacy had already been endorsed by decree signed by President Nicușor Dan, and he had been given a deadline to prepare the governing program and the list of ministers before the investiture vote.