Romania’s new acting justice minister has promised to do two things that led to the dismissal of his predecessor in an attempt to repair tensions in the ruling coalition and strengthen the ruling Liberal Party.
Brink of collapse
The coalition government is on the brink of collapse after Prime Minister Florin Citu fired Justice Minister Stelian Ion on Wednesday.
Mr Ion’s junior Save Romania Union said Thursday it would support the opposition in an upcoming no-confidence vote. Without the party’s support, the government would lose its parliamentary majority.
The newly appointed Liberal minister Lucian Bode, an ally of the prime minister, said he would approve a 10-billion euro infrastructure plan that will see investment in antiquated facilities over the next six years. Mr Ion refused to approve the plan.
Leadership challenge
It is seen as an attempt by the prime minister to win support from regional politicians in a party leadership challenge this month.
Mr Ion’s junior coalition partner was critical about the plan, saying it was weighted in favor of the ruling Liberals.
The new acting minister also said he was committed to disbanding the special unit tasked for investigating magistrates.
“It remains a priority,” he said. “It’s an essential condition” to get the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism lifted.
Special monitoring
The European Commission put Romania and Bulgaria under special monitoring when they joined the EU in 2007. The reason was concerns over the rule of law and corruption, and in Bulgaria’s case, organized crime. It is a safeguarding measure to address the shortcomings.
Mr Bode, who can serve as acting minister for a maximum of 45 days, said he said he would sign off on the community spending plan in good faith.
A report in June said Romania had made progress in efforts to reform its justice system and fight high-level corruption.
It added that it still needed to fulfill some recommendations laid out several years ago.
Romania posts ‘positive trend’ in fighting corruption, rule of law- European Commission