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Prime Minister Florin Citu expressed his disappointment on Wednesday with the resignation of the Minister of Health, Ioana Mihaila (USR PLUS), in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He stated in Ploiesti that he had asked the former Minister of Health, Nelu Tataru, to coordinate the activity of the Ministry of Health, as an honorary adviser.
"I am disappointed that a health minister can leave a ministry without leadership in the midst of a pandemic, when we already have 2,000 cases of infection [per day] and more than 400 people in ICU, but ... that's it. We're moving on. I asked Mr. Nelu Tataru to be an honorary adviser to take over and go manage this situation," Citu said.
Citu: I will make sure PNRR is approved this month; all reforms are moving forward
Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Wednesday in Ploiesti that he will make sure that Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) is approved this month, pointing out that all reforms are moving forward, Agerpres informs.
"Things are going very well. Romanians need to know that the government is moving forward. Interim ministers will take over the ongoing projects. I have been involved from day one in PNRR, I have had talks with the European Commission through the minister and directly, we are on the home stretch, and I will make sure that this month the PNRR is approved," said Citu.
He pointed out that because of the animosities inside the coalition, there were delayed investment projects, but after the budget revision they move on.
"The other investment projects have been delayed due to animosities inside the coalition and we could not approve the budget revision. Once we have approved the budget revision, all these projects will move on. All I can tell you is that all the reforms, including PNRR, and it is about the pension reform, the public pay reform, the public administration reform, the educated Romania - we have already started working on it and on Friday we will have the first relevant decision of the government - everything goes on. Nothing stops," said Citu.
PM Citu: Vulnerable consumer law is not enough for this winter
Prime Minister Florin Citu believes that the vulnerable consumer law, which was adopted by Parliament on Tuesday, "is not enough for this winter."
On the occasion of his visit to Ploiesti on Wednesday, he underscored that the government plans to adopt additional protection measures designed for people with low incomes, to compensate for the increases in their energy bill.
"The vulnerable consumer law was approved yesterday and I am glad that, after I insisted for a month, the Parliament finally found the time for it. For the law waited in the Romanian Parliament for several months, but there was no time for it. They voted it yesterday, finally. I want to see the exact details because I understood that there are some changes. We do have the resources, but this is not enough. The vulnerable consumer law is not enough for this winter. We need additional measures for this winter," said the head of Executive.
The head of the Executive participated, on Wednesday afternoon, in the inauguration of the Palace of Justice in Ploiesti.
He stated that it took over 20 years and 28 ministers to complete the construction, and a situation like this can no longer be tolerated in Romania.
"Finally this Palace of Justice is inaugurated. I also received the history of this building. We have been talking for 22 years to erect a single building, 22 years it took for this construction to be completed, and 28 ministers. I think, and I will be very firm here, that we can no longer tolerate something like this to ever happen in Romania again (...) During all this time, the courts in Prahova functioned in inappropriate, undersized, even unclean spaces, in rented buildings. Also, lacking a proper space, the Prahova Court even worked in the building of a mall downtown Ploiesti, while the archive was somewhere else, on the outskirts of the City. It's good, however, that we can make up for these things in the next interval. We also have the resources and the political will," the Prime Minister said in his speech.
He pointed out that the judicial reforms do not only aim at the legislative framework, but also at ensuring suitable spaces for carrying out the activity.
"I am a man who has asked and I continue to ask for reforms in the essential areas, and justice is an essential field, and by reforms I mean not only the modification of the legislation, the adaptation of the legislation to the European framework, the speedy judgment of cases, but also the provision of suitable spaces for carrying out the activity," the head of the Executive also said.
In this context, the interim Minister of Justice, Lucian Bode, underlined the "imminent" need for investments in the offices of courts and prosecutor's offices.
"The inauguration of the Palace of Justice in Ploiesti has been awaited for many years, being the most important investment objective pursued by the Ministry of Justice after the Palace of Justice in Bucharest. (...) It is hard to believe that it took 27 years from the initial project on paper, in 1994, to complete an important objective for justice in Romania, with the Palace gates having been opened on September 2 this year (...) Without permanent and consistent investments in the judiciary, it is not possible to obtain results, so that litigants benefit from a quality and timely justice," Bode said.
He reiterated that the Government has allocated funds in the budget revision for the continuation of the works at the courts countrywide.
"Yesterday, on the occasion of the first budget revision, the Florin Citu Government allocated the necessary funds for the continuation of the construction works on 20 headquarters of Romanian courts. The process of reforming the Romanian judiciary must continue with full engines, and besides the rebuilding of the normative framework that was seriously damaged between 2017 and 2019, investments in people and in improving the logistical conditions appropriate to a quality justice must be done in parallel. The rule of law can only be strengthened with reformed justice in the shortest possible time," said the interim Minister of Justice.
Construction works on the building of the Palace of Justice in Ploiesti began in December 1996, and the deadline was postponed several times.
The building covers a total of about 20,000 square metres, with a built area of 3,750 square metres.
