Cabinet reshuffle amid PM's battle to oust president

Romanian prime minister Victor Ponta reshuffled his cabinet yesterday after his interior minister resigned, and the central bank…

Romanian prime minister Victor Ponta reshuffled his cabinet yesterday after his interior minister resigned, and the central bank governor warned that Mr Ponta’s feud with the president could weaken the leu currency and make it hard to finance the budget.

Mr Ponta’s Social Liberal Union (USL) is embroiled in a battle to oust suspended President Traian Basescu that has stalled policymaking, drawn criticism from abroad and raised concerns over Romania’s IMF-led aid deal.

A July 29th referendum on whether to impeach Mr Basescu won 88 per cent support but the turnout was below the 50 per cent needed to make it valid.

The constitutional court has asked to see the voters’ list at the time of the referendum before ruling on the true size of the electorate and the validity of the vote, a ruling it was supposed to give last week but has put off to August 31st.

READ MORE

Mr Ponta suffered a blow early yesterday when interior minister Ioan Rus quit, citing political pressure in connection with the court’s work on the referendum. – (Reuters)