New development, transport minister sworn in office

Social Democrats Daniel Suciu and Razvan Cuc on Friday were sworn in office as deputy prime minister and minister of regional development and public administration, and minister of transport, respectively, at a ceremony at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace. Attending on behalf of the Government were several ministers. Prime Minister Viorica Dancila did not attend, as she was in Madrid. The ceremony was short and the head of state did not send any messages. The Presidential Administration reported that Iohannis will address the press at 11:30hrs. Iohannis signed on Thursday the decrees appointing the two ministers to office. Prime Minister Viorica Dancila had submitted their appointments on Wednesday to Iohannis. On November 22, 2018 Lucian Sova resigned as transport minister, Paul Stanescu resigned on 26 November as development minister. On January 3, Iohannis signed a decree to declare the vacancy of the two offices. On January 7, he signed decrees appointing Eugen Teodorovici as interim regional development minister and Rovana Plumb as acting transport minister. The prime minister had initially nominated Lia Olguta Vasilescu and Ilan Laufer for the two offices, but Iohannis rejected the two picks. Subsequently, Dancila submitted her proposal for Vasilescu to become the development minister and for Mircea Draghici to become the new transport minister four times. Early this February, President Iohannis denied the appointment of Vasilescu. Vasilescu and Draghici later withdrew from consideration. AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)