BUCHAREST, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Three important members of the Romanian government took the oath of office on Wednesday in the presence of President Klaus Iohannis, ending long-lasting criticism about several ministers.
Respectively, Ramona Manescu, Nicolae Moga and Mihai Fifor were sworn in as the foreign minister, the interior minister and deputy prime minister for implementing Romania's strategic partnerships office.
Early last week, Carmen Dan announced her resignation from the Interior Ministry, while Teodor Melescanu was dismissed from the Foreign Affairs Minister office.
Melescanu was actually stripped of political support by his party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, junior partner in the ruling coalition, "amid negative public perception of the way in which the elections to the European Parliament were conducted for Romanian abroad".
Yet, the party stressed that it had to make the decision as "we cannot neglect a certain type of public perception," though "we all agreed that Teodor Melescanu carried out his duty competently in the position he held".
The position of deputy prime minister has been vacant for a long time as predecessor Viorel Stefan was appointed new member of the European Court of Auditors and has been acted upon by the minister of justice.
The final decision of the reshuffle was made by the leadership of the main ruling Social Democratic Party last Monday.
"Because I've seen certain commentaries, I would like to make this clear: the political decisions we make are based both on the assessment of each minister, but also on the citizens' trust in the Cabinet members," Prime Minister Viorica Dancila said after the decision.
