Ciolacu's leftist Social Democrats and the centre-right Liberals agreed to rotate prime ministers when they formed a grand coalition government in late 2021, together with a junior ethnic Hungarian party which quit the cabinet this week in a row over posts.
The government was backed by 290 votes to 95 against, nearly 60 votes above the required threshold. Lawmakers of the country's minorities also backed the cabinet.
The power swap, which was delayed by a three-week general education strike, has further stalled tricky public sector wage and pension reforms needed for the European Commission to resume disbursing funds.
While European states such as Poland and Hungary are still struggling to unlock funds, Romania had already drawn down more than 6 billion euros, underpinning economic growth.
Ciolacu pledged to make the politically-sensitive reforms, as well as give Romania a more active voice in foreign policy as a NATO and EU member. He also pledged to boost the net monthly minimum wage to 500 euros by the end of his term next year, and the average wage to 1,000 euros by end-2025.
"European Union funds must be the engine of this economy," he told lawmakers. "We have formed this grand coalition for Romania's stability during hard times. It is in our power to fill the giant confidence gap between politicians and citizens."
The new cabinet will face pay claims from various parts of the public sector, including healthcare, while budget revenue has so far this year underperformed targets.
Romania holds presidential, general, local and European elections in 2024, when it must bring its budget deficit back below the bloc's ceiling of 3% of gross domestic product.
The Romanian leu EURRON= was down 0.1% against the euro on the day.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Jason Hovet and William Maclean)
