April 19 (SeeNews) - Romania's justice minister Tudorel Toader said he is going to resign after losing the political support of the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD).
"I am heading towards the government headquarters in order to present my resignation to the prime minister, who will decide what to do with it. Most probably he will send it to the president," Toader said in a statement broadcast by Digi 24 TV channel on Thursday evening.
Toader, who published his resignation letter on social media, also said he will remain in office to ensure continuity at the justice ministry until the name of his replacement will be published in the Official Gazette.
On Wednesday, PSD said it has withdrawn its political support for Toader and proposed to replace him by member of parliament Eugen Nicolicea.
The decision was taken by the party's executive committee in order to break a deadlock in the justice system, PSD Liviu Dragnea said in a televised statement on Wednesday.
Toader, a technocrat, has been repeatedly criticized by Dragnea and other MPs for refusing to move forth with a government's emergency decree granting amnesty for some corruption offences.
PSD sent both its decision to withdraw support for Toader and the proposal to put Nicolicea in his position to Romanian president Klaus Iohannis who has the final say on the potential reshuffle.
Iohannis said in a televised statement on Thursday evening that he will give an answer at the beginning of next week, and criticized the change of ministers.
In March, thousands of Romanians and magistrates around the country protested against an emergency decree issued by the government that introduced changes to justice bills which critics saw as threatening the independence of the judiciary.