February 22 (SeeNews) - Romania's prime minister Sorin Grindeanu on Wednesday replaced four cabinet ministers following resignations prompted by mass protests against a government decree that would have eased or scrapped penalties for corruption offences committed by public officials.
New cabinet ministers will be in charge of economy, business environment, European funds and justice in the coalition government of left-wing Social Democrat Party (PSD) and centre-right Liberal-Democrat Alliance (ALDE).
"All nominations were approved unanimously by Social Democrat Party (PSD) members," Grindeanu said in a televised statement.
This is the first reshuffle in the PSD-ALDE coalition government that took office in January following December 11 general election. PSD and ALDE control among themselves 250 of 465 seats in parliament.
The economy minister and former general manager of postal operator Posta Romana, Alexandru Petrescu, was appointed minister for small and medium enterprises and business environment. The ex-minister responsible for business environment, technocrat Florin Jianu, resigned on February 2 as a result of the mass anti-graft protests.
His seat at the economy ministry was allocated to Mihai Tudose, who had served in the same position in the cabinet led by former prime minister Victor Ponta from December 2014 to November 2015. Tudose has a PhD in Military Sciences and Information and was elected in July 2016 as a MP from PSD in Braila, in eastern Romania.
At the ministry of European funds, Grindeanu replaced Mihaela Virginia Toader with Rovana Plumb, without giving reasons for the change.
Rovana Plumb has been a member of PSD since 1994 and served as labour minister between March 2014 and November 2015 and as environment minister between May 2012 and March 2014.
Previously, Toader was the general manager of the analysis, programming and evaluation department at the EU funds ministry.
At the justice ministry, Grindeanu replaced quitting Florin Iordache with Tudorel Toader, an-ex judge at the country's Constitutional Court, which has no party affiliation.
Iordache stepped down under public pressure on February 8, following mass protests against the government decree that would have watered down Romania's anti-graft legislation. The decree, backed strongly by Iordache, would have made abuse of office punishable by jail only if the sums involved exceeded 200,000 lei ($47,500/44,000 euro).
Also, one of the voices who criticized the government's actions, PSD vice-president Mihai Chirica and mayor of the northeastern city of Iasi was stripped of all his leadership roles within the party on Wednesday. He had called for the resignation of Iordache and urged the government to repeal the decree.
Even though the cabinet has repealed the controversial decree, protests still continued on Tuesday for a 22nd day in a row in Piata Victoriei square in Bucharest. People urge the government to resignation over what they see as attempts to weaken the country's fight against graft.
($=0.9524 euro)