Romanian Interim Interior Min Delegates All Attributions Following Court Ruling

"Interim Interior Minister Vasile Blaga disagrees with the cheap election show staged by the Social Democratic Party to manipulate public opinion. As he promised, minister Vasile Blaga observed the court's ruling, as he always did," the Interior Ministry said in a press release.

According to the release, Blaga entrusted all his attribution as interim interior minister "although the Bucharest Court of Appeals' ruling disregards the Constitutional Court's decision which says no court can rule in a conflict between Parliament and the president."

Secretary of state Mihai Capra was entrusted Blaga's attributions regarding the unfolding of the presidential election runoff and the Interior Ministry secretary general was delegated attributions concerning the ministry's fund management.

Secretaries of state Dan-Valentin Fatuloiu and Marian Tutilescu will coordinate public order and security activities, the international relations and Schengen Department respectively, and secretary of state Irina Alexa will take over the Interior Ministry's institutional relations.

Secretaries of state Marius Tiberiu Martinescu and Liviu Gradinaru will coordinate activities regarding local public administration reform and relations with local communities, the press release said.

Social Democratic Party spokesman Bogdan Niculescu Duvaz said social democrat vice-president Dan Nica will file Wednesday two criminal complaints against Blaga for abuse of office and usurping official attributions.

Duvaz said Blaga was told Tuesday the decree assigning him as interior minister was illegal, according to a decision ruled by the Court of Appeals.

The Bucharest Court of Appeals ruled Friday to suspend the presidential decree by which democrat liberal Vasile Blaga replaced social democrat Dan Nica at the headship of the country's Interior Ministry early October.

The decree is suspended until the court rules to annul it.

The ruling may be appealed with the High Court of Justice.

On October 1, Romania's President Traian Basescu sigend the decrees dismissing Interior Minister Nica and appointing Blaga for interim interior minister.

Nica said on October 5 his dismissal from the headship of the Interior Ministry and the appointment of democrat liberal Development Minister Vasile Blaga as interim interior minister were achieved with two illegal decrees issued by the head of state.

Nica added the interim Government led by Emil Boc functioned illegally as the decree which overthrew him from the leadership of the Interior Ministry used the term revocation, while the decree appointing Blaga as interior minister used the term dismissal. Nica said the two terms differ according to the law on ministers' liability, in the way that revocation entails naming a tenurial minister and not an interim one.

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