Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis rejected Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s nomination of senator Mihai-Viorel Fifor for the Ministry of Transport.

The president motivated his decision saying that Fifor didn’t have the necessary expertise and managerial experience to manage such a complex sector of the economy.

Fifor has graduated the arts school and had a doctor’s degree in anthropology.

Iohannis asked Ponta to send another nomination. The Prime Minister answered saying that Iohannis rejected his proposal out of ambition, like former President Traian Basescu used to do. He also questioned Iohannis’ capacity as a history teacher to assess Fifor’s expertise in transports.

Then Ponta announced that he would name Iulian Matache, now a state secretary in the Transport Ministry, to take the ministerial seat. The President can’t reject the PM’s second nomination.

editor@romania-insider.com