Justice minister Tudorel Toader announced he will go to the Government to present his resignation to the premier, and Dancila is going to take a decision.
“I am going to the Government to give my resignation to the prime minister. She will decide what will do with this resignation, of course, she will most probably send it to the Presidency and, in this way, she is kicking off the procedure of reshuffling,” Toader said, adding: “I will remain in office until the President evaluates this, decides and issues the decree to relieve me of my duties and to name a new Justice minister“.
The ousted minister of Justice, Tudorel Toader, had previously stated on Thursday morning that he is leaving the office content and that he has fulfilled his duties. „Of course, you cannot please everybody”, „Personally, I am very content about my activity”, he said.
Toader is to meet Viorica Dancila this morning, adding that last night when he talked to the prime minister the request on his replacement had not been yet sent to Cotroceni Palace to President Iohannis. Toader said that the premier had told him during their conversation that she cannot ask for his resignation and that it remains at his discretion. „Of course, my resignation is no longer serving any purpose if it was sent to Cotroceni”, the JusMin added.
He asked the journalists to recall one of the statements he made early this year during an interview and that he is maintaining this statement: “When I cannot fulfill the mission as Justice minister (to be in service of the rule of law) within constitutional parameters, then I shall leave”, he stressed, “which will happen the upcoming days“.
Questioned is pressures have been made against him to sign certain legislative acts (including emergency ordinances), Toader avoided an answer.
Asked is he would have resigned, he assured there will not be any blockage, while yet underlining that the premier has the decisive role in appointing and dismissing, according to a Constitutional Court ruling.
„Of course there are responsibilities divided between premier and president, The PM’s will is decisive and I shall respect it”, he argued.
Toader has strongly denied the possibility of him being the next Prosecutor General, arguing such a thing never occurred to him, as he doesn’t want to be a prosecutor end-of-career.
“I will definitely not be the Prosecutor General, never crossed my mind. My end-of-career dream is not to be a prosecutor”, Toader underlined.
Asked to give an opinion about the his proposed successor, Eugen Nicolicea, Toader has made a long pause, then said the journalists should ask the ones who proposed Nicolicea, for he personally has just had an institutional relation with the proposed minister, and he doesn’t know him well. „I only know him to the extent of the constitutional relations, I would commit a big mistake if I pronounced myself”, Toader pointed out.
After talking to the prime minister today, Toader said he will stay in office until the name of the new minister is published in the Official Gazette. Following the journalists’ repeated questions, Toader stated that he had told the premier she would let her know by the end of the day if he is resigning or if the revocation procedure is going on.
PM Viorica Dancila has sent the proposal to revoke Tudorel Toader from the Justice minister position to the Presidency last night, as well as the proposal to replace him with Eugen Nicolicea. The move comes after ruling Social Democrat leaders had decided to withdraw the political support for Justice Minister Tudorel Toader.
Calin Popescu Tariceanu, ALDE’s chairman, the party who endorsed Tudorel Toader for the Justice portfolio, has sprang to the Toader’s defence, stating that he played a major role in the PSD-ALDE coalition’s approach “to reform the judiciary, in the attempt to get back to normality and to try provide the independence of justice”. “Toader has done many things, let’s remember, no minister in the past ten year has not had the courage to touch a strand of hair of Laura Codruta Kovesi. Or, as it has recently been the revocation request for the esteemed Mr. Augustin Lazar”, said Tariceanu.
It is an enormous disgrace by PSD to dismiss the Minister of Justice. He is most likely the brightest and most competent ever in the field of justice that Romania ever had.
Those who oppose to Tudorel Toader only show their inferiority to him. All kinds of political arguments against professor Toader is only a very shallow pretext to get rid of a person who is far higher in knowledge and experience in the field.
Shame on you PSD members who play some kind of poker game with a top jurist, Dr and professor and member of many highly respected and important parts of the jurisdictional society in Romania and other important instances in Europe.
I have supported him from day one and will continue to do so whatever his future will be.
The incompetent and ignorant members of PSD who are behind this, can go on in the political quagmire they have created. Normal people with a brain, support competence before political submission based on cowardice and fear. These mollusks should get back under the rocks, where they belong.