UPDATE President Iohannis signs decree appointing interim Education Minister

President Klaus Iohannis on Monday signed a decree appointing incumbent Minister of Culture Daniel Breaz interim Education Minister. According to a press statement released by the Presidential Administration, Iohannis also signed a decree dismissing Ecaterina Andronescu as Education Minister. 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. "Hers are statements that show a lack of understanding, in particular of the Caracal case and, in general of the way we need to protect our children from kidnappings, aggression, abuse and human trafficking. Hers is an attitude of no responsibility, which does not reflect the position of the Government and which I do not wish to become associated with the Executive I lead," Dancila wrote in a Facebook post. Dismissed Education Minister Ecaterina Andronescu, said on Thursday evening that she had "learned at home" not to climb "in any foreign car," referencing to the case of Alexandra, a 15-year-old teenager kidnapped and imprisoned in Caracal by a man she hitch-hiked. "For example, Alexandra was a student and she had a travel pass, I have learned from the School Inspectorate. What made her hitch-hike? I think that in the beginning of the school year, we will have to introduce in all the schools a child protection system and teach them to protect themselves, to stay safe, because I was taught at home myself... I think that we have to do all this in schools repeatedly," said Andronescu, according to the website of the Antena 3 private broadcaster. AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN -author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Rodica State)