New Ministers in the Government

The Romanian Government has three new ministers

Bogdan Matei, 11.06.2019, 13:50

Three Prime Ministers, Sorin Grindeanu,
Mihai Tudose and Viorica Dancila, and over 70 ministers have been named in the
last two and a half years in the three cabinets the ruling coalition in
Bucharest has set up. The media therefore paid little attention to Monday’s
ceremony at the Romanian presidency, where the new Ministers of Justice,
European Funds and Romanians Worldwide were sworn in. President Klaus Iohannis
had previously signed the decrees appointing Ana Birchal as Justice Minister,
Roxana Minzatu as Minister of European Funds and Natalia Intotero as Minister
for Romanians Worldwide. Birchall previously served as interim Justice Minister
while Intotero returned to the Ministry of Romanians Worldwide after resigning
to run for a European Parliament seat.

Iohannis instead rejected the nomination
of Titus Corlatean as Deputy Prime Minister for Strategic Partnerships, a
position previously held by Ana Birchall, and called on Prime Minister Viorica
Dancila to make a new nomination. The President holds Corlatean responsible for
what he has termed the disaster of the 2014 election, when Corlatean was
acting Foreign Minister and when tens of thousands of Romanians couldn’t cast
their vote in the first round of election. The President says Corlatean’s
reputation is not untainted, which is an essential prerequisite for the
position of Deputy Prime Minister and for managing Romania’s strategic
partnerships, which is a very sensitive issue.

Although considered a talented
diplomat and an efficient minister, Corlatean resigned in 2014, and the second
round of election was overseen by today’s Foreign Minister, Teodor Melescanu.
The Social Democrats are planning other important changes as well, the media
writes. With its back against the wall after losing the European Parliament
election and with the imprisonment of its strongman, Liviu Dragnea, the Social
Democratic Party is trying to take on a new path at the extraordinary congress
scheduled for June 29. There are Social-Democrats who believe that, to save the
image of the party, some controversial ministers such as Agriculture Minister
Petre Daea and Education Minister Ecaterina Andronescu need to leave. A wider
reshuffle of the Dancila Cabinet could also include Social-Democrat Interior
Minister Carmen Dan and Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu of the Alliance of
Liberals and Democrats, whom President Iohannis demanded their resignation for
the defective organization of the European Parliament election.

(Translated by V. Palcu)