Five or six ministries out of the picture

Given that the early parliamentary elections issue is far from being cleared up, PM Adrian Nastase is thinking of testing another Government reshuffle option, which will be much simpler and quicker to produce results: a cut in the number of ministries. Which option stands little chances of being challenged, as everybody agrees 27 ministers in Nastase’s Cabinet is a crowd. Or, in other words, many more than in any other Eastern European EU applicant, where a Cabinet comprises 16 ministers on the average.
Initially announced as a “measure to make the governmental team more efficient,” after the summit in Prague, the PM’s plan, also mentioned by President Ion Iliescu, is starting to assume shape.
Government sources told Mediafax on Monday night that the head of the Cabinet was planning to cut the current number of ministries by turning part of them into governmental institutions and by merging ministries with overlapping duties. One thing should be noted though: all this information is “under debate” for the time being, with no decision made in this regard yet.
“The 27 minister formula will be reconsidered in view or cutting the number of ministries by five or six,” the quoted sources said.
They specified the Education and Research Ministry co-ordinated by Ecaterina Andronescu and the Ministry of Youth and Sports headed by Georgiu Gingaras could be joined into a single ministry. The Development and Prognosis Ministry headed by Leonard Cazan should be engulfed by the Industry and Resources Ministry headed by Dan Ioan Popescu.
Another ministry to no longer stand on its own is the Environment Ministry assimilated by the Agriculture Ministry, with Ilie Sarbu to keep heading it, parliamentary sources told Ziarul Financiar.
The quoted sources added three more ministries would be turned into governmental agencies or departments.
The Public Information Ministry, co-ordinated by Vasile Dancu might turn into a governmental department, still headed by the sociologist from Cluj.
The same might happen to the Tourism Ministry and the Privatisation Authority (APAPS). Parliamentary sources told Ziarul Financiar the two ministries would be turned into agencies, therefore the current ministers Dan Matei Agathon and Ovidiu Musetescu would lose their minister seats.
The Tourism, Privatisation and Public Information ministers could not be reached for confirmation or comment on these projected changes. However, the APAPS officials yesterday said they had known for a quite while that the ministry would be turned into a governmental agency headed by Ovidiu Musetescu.
The PSD (Social Democrat Party) leaders, however, will not officially comment on the Government restructuring.