Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who faces corruption charges in Romania, said he will return to the country in maximum two weeks. He is currently in Turkey, where he had a knee surgery on June 15.

“I will come home on my own feet in maximum two weeks, without a wheelchair or crutches,” Ponta said at local TV station B1TV.

However, Ponta has been criticized lately for spending too much time in Turkey after the surgery, including by members of his party – the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

PSD Vrancea leader Marian Oprisan, one of the party's most influential local leaders, said he would have returned faster in the country had he been in Ponta's place. He added, however, that he understood that Victor Ponta didn’t want to risk his health, reports local Mediafax. He added that Ponta’s absence hasn’t caused any major “disturbance,” but that he needed to come back to Romania for things to go perfectly. Last week, Oprisan said that Ponta needed to return to Romania immediately, because “things didn't go well for the country and the party.”

Liviu Dragnea, another important PSD leader, also stated last week that there was “a state of disorientation among the party’s organizations” and Ponta should make an effort to return, even if this was painful for him.

“Victor Ponta should return home to clear and discuss all the political and governmental topics about the coalition and its functioning, about how the Government is led, about the governmental and political offer in the following period,” said Dragnea, cited by local Mediafax.

Last week, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis nominated Mihai Razvan Ungureanu as director of the country’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE), and this caused some disagreements in the ruling coalition. On one hand, Interim Prime Minister and UNPR leader Gabriel Oprea said he would endorse Ungureanu’s nomination and support any proposition coming from the President. UNPR is PSD’s ruling partner.

On the other hand, Victor Ponta said that PSD would either vote against this nomination, or not attend the vote at all. He said that President Iohannis failed to consult ruling party PSD on this nomination.

However, both Ponta and Oprea said that they will continue to work together on governing issues.

The joint chambers of the Parliament are to meet today, June 29, for the procedure to appoint Mihai Razvan Ungureanu to lead Romania’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE).

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com