Moldova President Angers Govt by Vetoing Proposed Ministers

President Igor Dodon on Thursday has caused a fresh confrontation with the pro-Western government after, for a second time, he rejected all the candidates for ministerial posts submitted by Prime Minister Filip Pavel.

A government reshuffle on December 19 brought on board seven new members and only four ministers kept their seats.

However, the President has vetoed all of them. "To be very clear to those in the parliamentary majority and the government, I do not intend to give in," Dodon stated on Facebook.

He claimed that most of the candidates were unsuitable because they were implicated in the huge bank fraud known as "billion dollar theft," which occurred between 2012 and 2014. However, none of the candidates have been charged in connection with the case.

"I believe that through these candidacies, the government will not be depoliticized, but, on the contrary, there will be a reactivation of former political actors," Dodon wrote further.

Moldova's constitution forbids a second rejection by the President of any government appointments, and the ruling Democratic Party has already threatened to suspend Dodon temporarily from office once again.

The speaker of parliament and vice-president of the Democratic Party, Andrian Candu, said on December 22 that the Constitutional Court will be called on again to judge the political dispute in order to overcome any institutional crisis.

Nicolae Negru, columnist of the electronic newspaper Ziarul Naţional, accused Dodon of intentionally overstepping the constitution.

He said that penalizing the President for placing himself above the constitution should be seen as "a test of the rule of law in Moldova".

The Constitutional Court on October 22 ruled that Dodon could...