Natalia Intotero, proposed Minister of the Family, Simona Bucura-Oprescu at the Ministry of Labour

PSD MPs Natalia Intotero and Simona Bucura-Oprescu were validated by the PSD leadership to take over the Ministry of Family and the Ministry of Labor, respectively. The two positions are vacant after the resignations of Gabriela Firea and Marius Budai.

Natalia Intotero was minister for Diaspora in the Dăncilă Government and secretary of state in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the Ponta government. He is in his third parliamentary term from the PSD. Since December 2020, he heads the Education Committee in the Chamber of Deputies.

Simona Bucura-Oprescu is the president of the Commission for public administration and territorial development in the Chamber of Deputies. She was elected parliamentarian for Argeş on the PSD lists first in 2012, then in 2016 and 2020. Her name was also rumoured for the Ministry of Labor in the rotational government in June, but the PSD leadership then preferred Marius Budai to continue his mandate .

Marius Budai and Gabriela Firea resigned last week, as a result of the horror asylum scandal.

The Minister of Labor, Marius Budai, resigned on Thursday, following the scandal related to the irregularities found in the asylums in Ilfov county. He submitted his resignation to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said in the Government meeting that Minister Budai informed him about the decision to submit his resignation, at the end of this meeting of the Executive. “From my point of view, it’s a gesture of honor,” said the prime minister, showing that it is the natural reaction of a political decision-maker, in such a crisis and in any consolidated European democracy.

Gabriela Firea announced, on Friday, on Facebook, that she decided, with great regret, but determined and with her forehead held high, to leave the Government of Romania and that she is also leaving for the moment the position of president of the PSD Bucharest organization, from which she is suspended for a limited period. She stated that she is completely innocent, but that she is leaving so that the prime minister can quietly work on good economic and social projects for Romanians. Firea showed that the goal was not only to leave the Government, but the objective of its “demolition men” from many directions is to stop running for the Capital City Hall.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu stated, after Gabriela Firea resigned from the position of Minister of the Family, that it is very clear to him that as a minister she has no direct connection with the “horror asylums” and that he appreciates her voluntary gesture.

Ciolacu expects the mayors, heads of the county councile, police chiefs, directors of local political institutions who are related to this case to take a step back.