President Announces Reasons For Rejecting Cabinet Proposals

In a statement, the president explained his reasons for rejecting the nominations of Ilan Laufer, Mircea Draghici and Lia Olguta Vasilescu – the latter twice – for the offices of transports or regional development minister.

The head of state cited legal issues as his reason for rejecting three of the four nominations. According to the statement, the proposals for Laufer and Vasilescu as regional development minister, as well as Draghici for the transports office violated the incompatibility criteria set for cabinet members in the Romanian Constitution.

The provision invoked by the president states that the office of Government member is incompatible with the exertion of any other public authority function – excepting that of MP or senator – or any other type of salaried job in commercial organizations. The statement did not specifically mention how the provision was violated.

For the proposal of Lia Olguta Vasilescu as transports minister, the president considered that the former labor minister “does not have the necessary expertize to handle the complex field of transports”.

Iohannis announced on January 4 that he will reject proposals made by Prime Minister Viorica Dancila for new transports and development ministers, continuing the month-long uncertainty regarding the offices.

The prime minister proposed Lia Olguta Vasilescu for the regional development office and Mircea Draghici for the transports office in December, after President Iohannis refused her initial nominations for the offices – Ilan Laufer and Vasilescu, respectively – during a cabinet reshuffle.

The head of state was forced to sign the decrees vacating the offices following a Constitutional Court ruling regarding the situation on December 19.

According to the decision, the President must immediately issue the decrees vacating the offices of transport minister and regional development minister, after Lucian Sova and Paul Stanescu, respectively, decided to resign from the offices.

The court also ruled that Iohannis must provide an immediate and reasoned response to proposals made by the Prime Minister Viorica Dancila for the two ministries: Lia Olguta Vasilescu for the regional development office and Mircea Draghici as transport minister.