Rejected Cabinet Nominee Announces Criminal Complaint Against President

Vasilescu said that the president did not have any legal reasons to reject her proposal, and made the decision based on “personal hate”, according to a post on her official Facebook page.

The former minister also said that she has “more experience for the role than Iohannis had to become president”, pointing out that both of them were mayors of major Romanian cities in the past, but that she is also currently serving her fourth term as an MP.

She adds that the real reason for which the president refused to appoint her statements she made criticizing him in the past.

“The president’s letter also refers to my reputation and immorality. I find it more than pathetic and degrading for a president to operate with instruments which are specific to online trolls who fling dirt into politicians they do not like,” the former Craiova mayor wrote in the post.

The president again rejected the Government’s nomination of Vasilescu for the office of regional development minister on Thursday, and requested the prime minister to propose a different candidate for the office.

This is the fifth time the president rejected the former labor minister for a cabinet role since mid-December 2018, when she was initially proposed for the office of transports minister.

The head of state said in a letter sent to Prime Minister Viorica Dancila that Vasilescu, a former mayor of Craiova and labor minister, does not have specialized training in any of the fields concerning the regional development office.