Dacian Ciolos’s
technocratic Government has this week suffered a new loss. After the
resignations of the Labour Minister Ana Costea and of the Minister for European
Funds Aura Raducu, it was time for Vlad Alexandrescu to leave the Government.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos removed him from the office of Culture
Minister. A university professor and former Ambassador of Romania to
Luxembourg, Vlad Alexandrescu was criticized for the way he handled a dispute
at the National Opera in Bucharest. Alexandrescu changed three managers in just
one month, without managing however to ease tensions at the Opera.
Dacian
Ciolos believes that a Minister’s response to a crisis situation reflects his
ability to carry out his mandate. Vlad Alexandrescu was equally accused of
having generated controversies by first announcing his resignation, then
stating he would only leave if Prime Minister Ciolos sacked him. In a letter
that reached the press, Vlad Alexandrescu claimed that some members of the
Government had tried to intimidate him and that the decisions he made in six
months of office did not sit well with various interest groups.
One of the
many prestigious figures in the field of culture who voiced support for Vlad
Alexandrescu was Andrei Plesu, himself a former Culture Minister. In an article
on what a Romanian Minister should be like, Andrei Plesu outlined
Alexandrescu’s merits. Among others, he saved important national heritage
monuments, through direct intervention. He launched a public subscription
campaign for the procurement of the Wisdom of the Earth, a masterpiece by the
famous Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi. Last but not least, he managed to
include Rosia Montana on UNESCO’s World Heritage tentative list, thus thwarting
any further attempts at turning this century-old settlement in central Romania
into a huge gold mining operation.
Andrei Plesu did not go too far in singing
Alexandrescu’s praises, saying the former Minister did make mistakes and caused
a lot of inconvenience by having too much initiative. Andrei Plesu believes
that technocrats are, in theory at least, more vulnerable than
politically-appointed ministers. The party usually nominates them, protects
them and only if they commit serious errors, withdraws them. Without
Parliament’s support, Dacian Ciolos’s technocratic Government is now open to
criticism for what it is trying to achieve, despite its uncertain position,
Andrei Plesu also argues.
The Government is prevented from taking too much
action but criticized for taking too little. Other Ministers who are now in the
crosshairs for their under par performance are the Health Minister Patriciu
Achimas Cadariu, who failed to deal with the many flaws in the healthcare
system, as well as the Agriculture Minister Achim Irimescu, whose only
achievement in the six months since he took office was to be at the center of
two scandals. Many voices claim the two are very likely next on the list of
ministers to be given the sack.