President: Romania Is Not Ready For EU Council Presidency

The Romanian head of state urged Prime Minister Viorica Dancila yet again to step down and stated that “things have gone crazy” in the last couple of weeks, referring to political incertitude in the ruling coalition.

“A couple of weeks back I say that we will deal with it (the EU Council presidency, ed.) reasonably, but in the meantime things have gone crazy, you cannot understand anymore who is responsible in the Government. The people who should handle this are either resigning or are fired. I think that even now, in the last moment, the political necessity is to replace this accident of Romanian democracy, which is the Dragnea-Dancila government,” said Klaus Iohannis.

The Romanian Minister-delegate for European Affairs, Victor Negrescu, resigned from the office on Saturday, less than two months before Romania is set to take over the presidency of the EU Council.

The former minister did not offer a reason for his decision, but announced on Sunday that the country is on schedule with preparations for the presidency both politically and logistically.

“Friday, when I left the office, everything was on schedule and ready for the next work week (…) Romania’s European course must continue,” stated the former Romanian dignitary.

He did, however, criticize statements made by Finance Minister Eugen Teodorovici, with multiple media sources reporting that the two had a heated discussion at the end of Friday’s cabinet meeting, which might have led to Negrescu’s resignation.