President Klaus Iohannis said during a press conference at Cotroceni Palace Monday night that he still expected PM Victor Ponta to resign over his legal situation, being under criminal investigation and indicted by DNA.
Asked about his relations with Victor Ponta and if he was still of the opinion that the prime-minister should resign office, the president answered: ‘I have not changed my opinion and I expect that to happen at some point’.
‘Our cooperation varies according to where we are. I have always been here. There is an institutional dialogue, more rarely, but we have talked about important things’, Klaus Iohannis noted.
Also asked if Romania could have a PNL government this autumn, the president noted: ‘No matter how much I wanted a government of a certain kind, this is something for the political parties to decide. The government change only happens if the premier renounces his mandate or if the opposition introduces a successful no-confidence vote’.
The president had also demanded the PM to resign in June, after his first interview with the National Anticorruption Department (DNA). Since then, the prime-minister has visited DNA a few more times.
Prime-Minister Victor Ponta afterwards sent the president the date when he would resign office as prime-minister, after Iohannis had urged him to do that, Monday night.
The premier told B1 TV that he would send his letter of resignation to President Klaus Iohannis on 1 December 2016, meaning during the period of the next parliamentary election.
Iohannis about Romanian abducted in Burkina Faso: I know exactly where we stand
President Klaus Iohannis also said, during his press conference on Monday, that the Romanian state treated ‘with a maximum attention’ the situation of Romanian Iulian Ghergut, abducted in Burkina Faso, but warned that there should be less publicity for the conational to be safely retrieved.
‘The Romanian state is treating this case with a maximum of attention. I have sent a delegate to the crisis cell. I know exactly where we stand, in which stage the action is. Those actions are compliant with the mandate. But these actions are successful if there is not too much publicity. Everybody should understand that this is a situation calling for specific treatment’, Klaus Iohannis emphasised.
The Romanian national Iulian Ghergut, security officer at a coal mine in Tambao, Northern Burkina Faso, near the border with Niger and Mali, was abducted on 4 April by armed people wearing turbans.
The head of state denies extravagant improvements to protocol residence
President Klaus Iohannis declared on Monday evening that he had not any exaggerated requirements as regards the protocol residence he is to move in.
“I had not and have not extravagant demands, but yes, I have asked for the house to be painted, I have asked for its façade to be repaired and painted. Yes, the SPP [Protection and Guard Service – editor’s note] has asked for a part of it that plays the role of a shelter to be painted and consolidated. Yes, it is true that the experts have asked for a consolidation of the building. I have been informed that this is what it is done there,” the President told a press conference at the Cotroceni Palace, answering a question on allegedly outrageous requirements in this respect and of costs possibly over one million euros reported by some media.
Iohannis also emphasized that he is not accustomed to having exaggerated demands.
