Resignation of the Romanian minister

Today, Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu will officially submit his resignation. He himself stated this yesterday at a press conference in Bucharest. Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu dismissed the Foreign Minister on Friday for failing to inform the government about the arrest of two Romanian workers in Iraq. The workers had been there since May 2006 and were arrested on October 31 by coalition soldiers for taking photographs of the US military base without permission. The head of government complained that he learned about the arrest of his compatriots from media reports.

Having learned about the prime minister's decision, the head of the Foreign Ministry interrupted his vacation in Austria and returned to Bucharest on Friday. Having met with the prime minister, Ungureanu admitted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not act entirely correctly in the case of Romanian workers. On Friday, the workers were released and taken to the Romanian embassy in Baghdad, from where they were transported to their homeland. However, there are more serious reasons behind the resignation. The head of the Foreign Ministry was considered close to President Traian Basescu, who did not have a good relationship with the prime minister. By dismissing the minister, the head of the cabinet annoyed the president.

Victor VOLODIN