Bucharest  - Romania's parliament gave its approval Monday night to the creation of a grand coalition government between the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party
(PD-L) and the socialist PSD party.

Emil Boc, leader of the PD-L, will serve as prime minister. The new government was approved by a 324-115 vote.

We will be an anti-crisis government," said Boc, adding that the government will not delay to take strong measures" to combat the effects of the international financial crisis. However, he added social policies will not fall by the wayside. Instead, the goal will be to achieve stability in difficult times.

The PD-L and PSD came in nearly equally in November's elections, with neither party gaining an absolute majority.

The new government has vowed to focus on cost-cutting measures, with a special focus on government operations. Boc also promised to continue pursuing judicial reforms to combat corruption. (dpa)