Romanian president meets pro-government protesters demanding his resignation

Record ID: 174998

  • Title: Romanian president meets pro-government protesters demanding his resignation
  • Date: 8th February 2017
  • Summary: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA (FEBRUARY 8, 2017) (REUTERS) IOHANNIS WALKING BACK TO PALACE PROTESTERS BANGING DRUMS (SOUNDBITE) (Romanian) PRO-GOVERNMENT PROTESTER, ION MATACHE, SAYING: "He said all of us are Romanians and I told him: No, on TV you said your Romanians are in Victory Square. Resign and make this up to the people." UPWARD VIEW OF PROTESTERS STANDING BEHIND METAL BARRIE
  • Embargoed: 22nd February 2017 19:32
  • Keywords: Romania corruption protests government president Klaus Iohannis Bucharest
  • Location: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
  • City: BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
  • Country: Romania
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00362NV5FR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Romanian President Klaus Iohannis walked out of the Presidential Palace on Wednesday night (February 8) to briefly meet with pro-government protesters demanding his resignation.
    Around 200 supporters of the government of Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu had gathered there, calling for the president to resign after he admonished the government over a corruption decree earlier on Wednesday.
    Iohannis briefly went outside to talk to them but they refused dialogue.
    "He said all of us are Romanians and I told him: No, on TV you said your Romanians are in Victory Square. Resign and make this up to the people," said Ion Matache, one of the demonstrators who spoke with the president.
    Romania's Social Democrat-led government easily survived a no-confidence motion in parliament on Wednesday, three days after mass street protests forced it into an embarrassing U-turn over a graft decree.
    The Social Democrats and their allies control nearly two thirds of parliament seats after winning a December election.
    Though the role of the president is largely ceremonial, his powers include nominating the prime minister after elections and returning legislation to parliament for reconsideration.
    Hundreds of thousands of Romanians have demonstrated in the past week in cities across the country, thronging Bucharest's boulevards in scenes that will not have gone unnoticed elsewhere in Eastern Europe, blighted by corruption and cosy ties between business and politics since the end of communism.
    Some anti-government protesters have pledged to keep up the pressure until Grindeanu resigns, although the number taking to the streets has fallen.
    The government on Sunday (February 5) rescinded the decree, which critics said would have turned back the clock on the fight against corruption in the European Union member state.
    The decree would have decriminalised a number of graft offences and effectively shielded dozens of public officials from prosecution for graft.
    Romania remains one of the poorest and most graft-prone member states of the European Union, which it joined in 2007.
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