PM Dancila says Deputy PM Stanescu would not resign

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila stated on Monday that she requested Deputy Prime Minister Paul Stanescu's resignation from the Gov't but he refused to act upon it according to Agerpres.

"Given that I have signed the removal from office, it is natural that we want him changed. It is a closed deal, voted upon in the Executive Committee, I say we look towards the future and see how we can solve this. I have talked about the resignation with Mr. Paul Stanescu, I asked him to do this. Mr Deputy prime Minister Paul Stanescu would not resign," Dancila said in Parliament.

The premier specified that there has always been openness for dialogue on her behalf with President Klaus Iohannis.

"I have called Mr president, I told him I will be sending the new reshuffle proposals, Mr president said ok. I sent [them, ed.n.], I saw they were rejected, I sent them again. Mr president did not have any discussion, he went public and said that after 1 December he will make these nominations. When confronted with such a statement, what can we discuss upon? (...) If asked, I will talk to Mr president. So there has always been openness, we had balance and consensus, but this must not be one-sided, it must come from both parties, from everybody. (...) If it only comes from me and we have a discussion and after a few days they come and request the resignation again. Each time I was invited I followed up on it precisely to clarify certain aspects, precisely because Romania's Government has the responsibility of taking over the presidency [of the Council of the European Union, ed.n.] and I believe that in order to have a successful presidency a joint effort is needed, teamwork," Dancila pointed out