Prime Minister Victor Ponta confirmed Thursday that deputy premier Gabriel Oprea will act as Interior minister in an interim capacity. Ponta said the Liberal Party, part of the ruling coalition USL, will propose a new minister around February 1.
Stroe said he decided to resign as a token of appreciation for the firefighters of the General Institute for Emergency Situations (IGSU) who, he added, were unjustly criticized over the past three days.
“I have decided to resign as a token of appreciation for firefighters because they are the true heroes as they will always save lives. They must not pay for the actions of policymakers,” Stroe told a press conference held Thursday afternoon at the Interior Ministry headquarters.
Stroe said the investigations in this case will soon prove that neither the Interior Ministry nor the General Institute for Emergency Situations is to blame for the search and tracking of the airplane that made an emergency landing in the Apuseni Mountains.
People close to the matter told Mediafax earlier Thursday that Stroe stepped down as Interior minister following talks with Ponta.
A plane carrying a medical team to a transplant crashed Monday in the Apuseni Mountains. All seven on board, including five doctors, a nurse and two flight crew members, initially survived the landing, but two of them died later, allegedly due to a delay of medical help. Rescuers reached the injured about six hours after the crash.