Romanian president blasts plan to move embassy to Jerusalem

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romanian President Klaus Iohannis sharply criticizes plans announced by the head of the ruling party to move the country’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Iohannis had “not been consulted or informed over this process,” his office says in a statement, adding that in his opinion the decision was “not based on firm, wide-ranging evaluations.”

On Thursday evening the head of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), Liviu Dragnea, told the Antena 3 TV channel: “The decision has been taken… procedures [for the move] have started.”

However, the government of Prime Minister Viorica Dancila has not officially confirmed the news and a government spokesman refused to comment on the issue when asked by AFP.

Due to a previous two-year suspended prison sentence for electoral fraud, Dragnea could not take up the post of prime minister after the PSD won legislative elections at the end of 2016, but he is still as having a key role in party decisions.

Iohannis, who is from the center-right and has expressed numerous disagreements with the government, claims he has the authority to “take decisions relating to Romania’s foreign policy” and underlines that Bucharest’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “had not changed.”

“At this stage a transfer of the embassy would represent a violation of international law,” he says.

“The government’s initiative could eventually represent, at the most, the beginning of a process of evaluation… which could only be finalized after the conclusion of peace talks,” Iohannis adds.

— AFP