On Tuesday, President Klaus Iohannis signed decrees recognizing the resignation of Vasile Dink from the defense ministry and appointing Nikolae Chuke as interim minister. Also on Tuesday, a meeting of the Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT) takes place, where the security situation in the context of the war started by Russia in Ukraine and the modernization of the Romanian army are discussed.

As reported in the presidential administration, Iohannis signed a decree recognizing the resignation of Minister of National Defense Vasile Dink and terminating the powers of a member of the government. Iohannis also signed a decree appointing Prime Minister Nikolae Chuke as the interim Minister of National Defense.

CSAT meeting today in Kotrochen

Also on Tuesday, starting at 2:00 p.m., Iohannis convened a meeting of the Supreme Council of National Defense (CSAT) in Kotrochen, which Chuke will attend as prime minister as well as interim defense minister.

As reported in the press release of the Presidential Administration, the agenda of the meeting includes issues related to:

• The security situation in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine – implications for Romania and improving the country’s energy resilience to ensure security on the ground through operational adaptation and development of new energy production capacities in the context of the war in Ukraine.
• Report on the measures taken by Romania to comply with the regime of sanctions established at the international level in the period October 2021 – September 2022
• Measures for the modernization of the Romanian army.
• Actual problems in the field of national security.

Defense Minister Vasile Dinku announced his resignation on Monday, citing his inability to cooperate with President Klaus Iohannis.

The resignation came more than two weeks after he said that “the war in Ukraine will continue” and that “the only chance for peace may be negotiations with Russia”, statements accused by Klaus Iohannis, among others. “(…) apparently, some of our high-ranking persons need to read the press magazine more often to learn about these positions,” the president reacted at the time.

The PSD demands an urgent convening of a meeting of the coalition, and then of the party’s national political council, in order to appoint a successor to Vasile Dinka in the Ministry of Defense in the next period, PSD spokesman Štefan Radu Oprya said. on Monday evening, after a meeting of the Office of National Policy. When asked if the Social Democrats could cede the defense portfolio to the NLP, he said that there was no such discussion: “We are not interested in these topics of exchange, barter, but we are interested in the stability of the government.”

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