The Romanian government was replaced after the resignation of the former Prime Minister Victor Ponta and the appointment of a new Prime Minister, Dacian Cioloș.

The fall of the government came on 3 November 2015 after the protests of the population following a fire that broke at a rock concert in the Colectiv club in Bucharest on 30 October 2015, killing 56 young people and injuring more than 100.

Alexandrescu was approved by the members of Culture, Arts and Media Comission from the Chamber of Deputies and also by the Culture and Media Comission from the Senat on 16 November 2015 and was sworn into office the following day.

Alexandrescu studied French and German at the University of Bucharest and received a PhD in language studies at Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He holds the French chair of the University of Bucharest where he has been teaching since 2000. He was the Romanian ambassador in Luxemburg from 2006 to 2011. Alexandrescu is the grandson of the famous Romanian literary critic Tudor Vianu.