October 18 (SeeNews) - Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has appointed new ministers in charge of development, transport and EU funds, the president's press office announced.
The president signed into a decree the three appointments proposed last week by Romania's ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), the press office said in a news release late on Tuesday.
Paul Stanescu, head of the PSD organisation in Olt county, was appointed development minister, the party chief in Constanta county Felix Stroe will be at the helm of the transport ministry, and Marius Nica, who served as EU funds minister in 2015, will serve in the same position again.
The three outgoing government ministers, who are being investigated by Romania's anti-graft body DNA - deputy PM and minister of development Sevil Shhaideh, EU funds minister Rovana Plumb and transport minister Razvan Cuc - resigned on Thursday after prime minister Mihai Tudose said he is ready to step down if the party does not remove them from the cabinet.
"There are three ministers with legal issues that are creating problems both at the level of public perception and the level of the European Commission," Tudose said in a statement last week.
On Thursday night, the PSD executive committee rejected the resignation of the three cabinet ministers, but later reversed its decision.
"They decided to resign in order to help resolve a situation that seemed almost impossible to resolve," PSD leader Liviu Dragnea said on Friday during a conference of the party.
This is the second reshuffle in Tudose's four-month old cabinet after president Iohannis appointed new ministers of defence and economy in September.