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Attila Kisbenedek / AFP - Getty Images
Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi was fired on Monday.
BUCHAREST, Romania - Romania's prime minister on Monday fired the foreign minister over insulting remarks he made about anti-government protesters.
Emil Boc said in a speech that Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi was fired for making inappropriate remarks about protesters, who have taken to the streets for the past 10 days to demonstrate against austerity measures and call for the resignation of President Traian Basescu and the government.
Last week, as anti-government protests raged in Romania, Baconschi wrote on his blog that Romanians who work for a living will decide the country's future, not the "violent and clueless slums." Baconschi's comments caused outrage.
Boc apologized to protesters during an extraordinary two-day Parliament session called by opposition parties following the protests.
"I present apologies from the parliamentary tribune to the Romanian public for these verbal errors," he said.
Daniel Mihailescu / AFP - Getty Images
A woman holds a sign reading "QUIT!" -- referring to Romanian President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Emil Boc -- during a protest in Bucharest on Sunday.
Some protesters gathered in Bucharest's University Square said the dismissal did not satisfy them. The opposition also said the firing of Baconschi did not go far enough, and lawmakers called for early elections, saying Basescu, parliament and the government are no longer wanted by the people.
"Romania needs radical solutions — early presidential and early general elections to be held as soon as possible," said Crin Antonescu who leads the opposition Liberal Party. "We believe most Romanians are discontented and reject their political leaders."
Baconschi was appointed foreign minister in Dec. 2009, and before that he was Romania's ambassador to the Vatican and to Paris.
He is currently in Brussels for a European Union meeting of foreign ministers. According to the Mediafax news agency, Baconschi said he had received a text message from the prime minister telling him that he was fired.
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The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
What the heck are those brown zombie like things on the picture?
Statues
It is Borat.
CAN WE DO THAT PLEASES IN AMERICA !!!!!!!!
England has laws that fire politicians who lie about other politicians. Stop the hate speach!
FIRED by text message! Awkward!
Typical gaff of a 1%er elitist.
Typical response from someone who more than likely resembles those he's referring to!
In the words of Jack, "You can't handle the truth!"
Truth is he insulted the same people that pay him,,,truth is he's a idiot..truth is HE"S FIRED now handle it.
Am I supposed to ignore your incorrect use of quotation marks and commas? You must be one of the uneducated slums that he was referring to! :(
A good first step would be the recovery of Moldavia...stolen by Stalin's Soviet Union during his alliance with Hitler and now a buffer state with Ukraine...
NO FREE TRADE WITHOUT FULL EMPLOYMENT!!!
Meanwhile, in America putting down and insulting your own citizens gets you the biggest applause lines in GOP events.
Is Obama watching...
Is Newt watching...
Did someone say Bacon? I wish my name was Baconschi, I would be a cop if that were my name.
It seems more and more that it is the "clueless" public servants who are the ones who need educating. If the people want government do be something different, it is really not up to a mere handful of government elitists to decide who gets what. Remember Libya?
Nothing like getting fired via text message....
Buna, As someone with friends in Romania I can say this idiot got what he deserved and probably could come to the USA and run as a Republician.The Romanians are hard working , I hope our Occupy movement accomplishes as much as they have, is amazing what you can accomplish when you target specific
issues, and not just settle for pizza and "starting a dialogue and endless GA's and live stream face time" one difference is these are adults protesting not only students. The first demand should be re-enactment of Glass -Steagall. Now Occupy Movement being used by illegal immigrant groups, and a host of other "rights" groups.
Foreign Ministers prior position was a VATICANS ambassador . That pretty much summs it up for me!,, . This is where Satan resides and does some of his best works. Romanians need to impale him when he gets back to send even a stronger message to the rest of the would be politicians.
This guys comments sound like most of the current Republican candidates. Maybe they should remember someone else who took that approach with her "let them eat cake" comment. Didn't work out too well for her.