PM Dancila calls President Iohannis; president to soon comment on interim ministers

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila on Monday had a phone conversation with President Klaus Iohannis about her picks for interim ministers, political sources have told AGERPRES. According to the sources, Iohannis told the prime minister that he would respond "very soon" about the picks. Last month, Dancila submitted to Iohannis her picks for education, justice and interior ministers. They were validated by the leadership of the Social Democratic Party (PSD): Dana Girbovan for justice minister; Serban Valeca for education minister and Mihai Fifor for interior minister. Also validated were Ana Birchall for deputy prime minister in charge with strategic partnerships and Iulian Iancu as deputy prime minister for economic issues. Two days later, Iohannis announced he was denying any proposal for government reshuffle. On Friday, Iohannis signed a decree taking note of the resignation of Gratiela Leocadia Gavrilescu as minister of the environment; Anton Anton as minister of energy, and Viorel Ilie as minister for Parliament, as well as the termination of their capacity as members of the government. All three of them are members of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) and they resigned after ALDE pulled out of government. Picked to replace them on an interim basis were Minister of Economy Niculae Badalau as energy minister; Minister for Water and Forestry Ioan Denes as environmental minister, and at Minister for the Business Environment, Entrepreneurship and Commerce Radu Oprea as minister for Parliament, according to political sources. On a visit to Constanta on Friday, Dancila said she did not understand why the president rejected her five ministerial picks, given that they are highly trained and professionally praised, adding that she would call Iohannis for an opinion about the activity of the government. AGERPRES (RO - author: Dana Piciu, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)