Ousted EduMin Andronescu: My intention wasn't to accuse Alexandra

Dismissed Education Minister Ecaterina Andronescu stated on Friday that her intention regarding her statement made on a television show, wasn't to accuse Alexandra Macesanu, the 15-year-old teenager who went missing in Caracal, or her parents, for using an illicit means of transportation, but to protect the pupils from criminals. She mentioned that she learned about her removal from office from television, and that she hadn't spoken with Viorica Dancila after the statements she made the previous evening. "Unfortunately, she didn't contact me. I was here, in a meeting with a council at the Ministry. We are trying to solve some current issues," Andronescu told Digi 24 private television station. Andronescu explained that her statement on Thursday evening at a private television station, according to which she would have learned at home not to get in any foreign car, "has nothing to do" with Alexandra's situation. "My intention was, what I actually said, that if the parents don't tell them, we, at school, we have the obligation to help the children to beware of criminals. This was my message. To start, as of autumn, a school campaign to protect those we tutor in our schools from criminals. It has nothing to do with the situation, except to protect them in the future, because the fact occurred. That was not my intention, to accuse Alexandra or her parents. I didn't think that, not for a moment. (...) I didn't stop here, on the show (...). I went on to say: 'In the autumn, we will have to launch a campaign in our schools to teach children how to protect themselves'," Andronescu told Digi24 private broadcaster. Prime Minister Viorica Dancila on Friday announced having dismissed Ecaterina Andronescu from the position of Education Minister for the latter's "profoundly wrong" statements made recently on a television show. "However, I learned at home not to get in any foreign car," Andronescu said on Thursday evening. The Prime Minister also mentioned in her Facebook post that she will propose Minister of Culture Valer-Daniel Breaz to take over as interim Education Minister. AGERPRES (RO - author: Livia Popescu, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Rodica State, editor: Cristina Zaharia)