The finance minister, dismissed

PM Florin Cîţu will act as interim finance minister, after removing Alexandru Nazare from office

Ştefan Stoica, 09.07.2021, 14:00

Alexandru Nazare was dismissed as head of the finance ministry on Thursday, at the request of his fellow Liberal, the PM Florin Cîţu.

This is the second member sacked from the coalition government comprising the National Liberal Party, USR-PLUS, and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians, after the former health minister Vlad Voiculescu in mid-April. Voiculescus dismissal was requested by many at the time, and came in the wake of serious incidents that affected Romanian hospitals and of communication flaws, which outweighed his good intentions.

But now, Nazares rather surprising sacking fuels speculations that it has to do with the race for the presidency of the Liberal party, in which PM Cîţu runs against the incumbent speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Ludovic Orban.

PM Florin Cîţu explains, however, that the decision was prompted by an analysis of the finance ministrys activity. The review apparently revealed delays in major projects related to the spending of EU funds and to fighting tax evasion.

Florin Cîţu: “Minister Nazare was given the chance to resign, but he chose to be dismissed. All the coalition leaders were informed as early as on Tuesday afternoon.

Alexandru Nazare tells a different story. In a post on a social network, the former minister said he was sacked for failing to join the team supporting PM Florin Cîţu in the race for party president. The decision is not based on objective reasons, Ludovic Orban said in Nazares defence, and warned that the appointment of a new finance minister should be decided in the Liberal Partys decision-making bodies and by the ruling coalition.

Ludovic Orban: “There are no serious reasons behind this removal. Normally, any such discussion should have first taken place within the National Liberal Party and within the ruling coalition.

The Social Democrats, in opposition, seized this opportunity to once again criticise the government. They believe government replacements are made only in order to soothe the egos of the politicians in power. The Social Democrats spokesman, Radu Oprea, argued,

Radu Oprea: “Unfortunately, the incumbent PM sets the country on fire, prices are going up, our people are getting poorer. Instead of doing his job in the government, he is only busy with his party campaign.

The dispute in the Liberal Party only proves the governments sheer disregard for the citizens problems, the Social Democrats claim. Ironically, only 4 years ago, the Social Democratic Party generated a political crisis when it dismissed its own government through a no-confidence motion. The reason was the then prime ministers alarming insubordination to the partys authoritarian leader, Liviu Dragnea, currently serving a corruption sentence.

In constitutional terms, it is within the prime ministers powers to request the dismissal of a cabinet member. (tr. A.M. Popescu)