PM Citu on FinMin Nazare's removal: Normal to start with analysing the ministry which minister I picked

Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Thursday in Craiova that he started assessing the performance of the members of his cabinet with the portfolio where he proposed the minister, which is the Ministry of Finance, because "if you do not have the courage to do your own analysis then you don't start anymore."

"First of all, I did what I promised. I said that I would do an analysis of all the ministries and it was normal for me to start with the analysis of the ministry where I recommended the minister and if you do not have the courage to do your own analysis then you do not start with such analysis. I did an analysis of this portfolio; I made my mind on Tuesday and I told the minister [Alexandru Nazare] to resign, I announced the coalition leaders. Last night [Wednesday] he informed me that he was not resigning and I went ahead with the removal plan. (...) It is important that the projects (...) continue at a fast pace, because they are needed for Romania. The most important thing is for the government team to perform; it is not the name of a minister x or y, but the whole team, and my responsibility is for the whole team to perform well. And when I see that we have difficulties somewhere with performing, I will not give up making the best decision for the Romanians," said Citu.

He added that it was the prime minister's responsibility to remove ministers, saying he would continue to analyse the ministries.

"I am conducting the analysis and when I have an analysis I will inform the members of the ruling coalition and then we will move on," the prime minister said.