Democrat Ministers left Daewoo privatisation commission

Radu Berceanu, Minister of Transports, and Gheorghe Barbu, Minister of Labour, informed at the end of last week that they would cease to participate within the commission responsible for the privatisation of Daewoo Craiova.

After the Government has informed about the structure of the commission following the session at mid week, President Traian Basescu criticised the next day, during the session of the Upper Magistracy Council, the presence of Ministers within the privatisation commissions. Thus, the first who took action were the Democrat Ministers who were on the list of the members in the privatisation commission dealing with the automotive factory based in Craiova. Berceanu was the first to declare that he realised the incompatibility issue noted by the President, affirming that he had only recently learned about his nomination within the commission.Still, Berceanu told yesterday he hoped for the privatization of Daewoo Craiova to end in the second semester of 2007 and he would actively involve in the process despite his resignation from the commission. Barbu followed the example of his colleague, motivating his withdrawal with the “major projects” in 2007 where he would participate and which would not allow any resources for other activities. In 2006, Minister of Labour received over RON 0.11 M following the membership statute within BCR privatisation commission. After these withdrawals, four Liberals and one UDMR representatives still sit the in the commission established for analysing Daewoo privatisation. In answer to the critics brought by the President, PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu declared that it was only natural for people belonging to the first decision-making level to be part of the commissions.

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