President motivates his denial in the case of the rejected ministers. PM nominates Draghici, Vasilescu again

President Klaus Iohannis has sent two letters to PM Viorica Dancila on Thursday motivating his decision to reject the proposals for the Development and Transports ministries. PM Dancila had initially proposed Ilan Laufer and Oguta Vasilescu for these positions, and then, after the president’s first refusal, the premier made another proposals: Mircea Draghici for Transports and Olguta Vasilescu for the Regional Development.

As for Olguta Vasilescu, the head of state says that “she has no necessary expertise to manage the complex sector of transports”, while in Ilan Laufer’s case, Iohannis argues he “does not fulfill the conditions stipulated by article 105 in the Constitution and article 2 in the Law 90/2001 on the Government organization”.

In the second letter, the President says that in the other two proposals, Mircea Draghici for the Transports and Olguta Vasilescu for the Development portfolio “there is no reference to the fulfillment of the legality conditions”.

In retort, PM Viorica Dancila has announced that she had sent to the President the same proposals for the vacant ministries of Transports and Regional Development, meaning Mircea Draghici and Olguta Vasilescu.

The prime minister argues that the two proposals meet the legality conditions and that neither Olguta Vasilescu nor Mircea Draghici are in any incompatibility situation.

The Government secretary general, Toni Grebla had also mentioned that PM Dancila will still propose Draghici and Vasilescu for the Transports and Regional Development portfolios. The Government will also decided if it notifies the Constitutional Court on this issue.

Grebla argued that the President’s answer is “political”. “We’ll persevere with these nominations and the President will be compelled to accept them“, he said.