Romania’s embassy in Israel again in the news

Romanian PMs announcement about moving the Romanian embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is contradicted by the President.

Ştefan Stoica, 25.03.2019, 12:54

The Romanian prime minister Viorica
Dancila on Sunday took many by surprise when she said the Romanian embassy in
Israel would be relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after the conclusion of an
ongoing analysis on the appropriateness of such a move and in full agreement
with all decision makers. The announcement was accompanied by the commitment to
inscribe into law the right to Romanian citizenship for the Jews who left
Romania during the communist era and to pensions for the Holocaust survivors
and was made at a conference of the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee, where it was received with enthusiasm.

After being later rebuked in
harsh terms by president Klaus Iohannis, who has the final say in foreign
policy matters, the prime minister said she expressed a personal opinion about
moving the Romanian embassy. And yet, her announcement was very clear:

I am pleased to announce today that after the conclusion of the
analysis by all the constitutional actors involved in the decision-making
process in my country and, in full consensus, I as the prime minister of
Romania and the government I lead will move the Romanian embassy to Jerusalem,
the capital of Israel.

That she wasn’t merely voicing a personal
opinion is demonstrated by both the reaction of her Israeli counterpart
Benjamin Netanyahu, who congratulated her on her announcement, and that of the
secretary general of the PLO, Saeb Erekat, who criticised Dancila and called on
the European Union to take measures.

Prime minister Viorica Dancila has once again
demonstrated her complete ignorance with regard to foreign policy and to how
important decisions for the Romanian state are made, president Klaus Iohannis
was quick to point out in a statement. Out of a desire to claim a decision that
isn’t only the government’s to make, as the impression was given, the prime
minister has rushed to make public announcements although no decision has been made
in this sense, the president’s office has said. The statement underlines that
the decision to move the Romanian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will only
be made after the conclusion of an ongoing analysis and only with the approval
of all institutions with responsibilities in the area of foreign policy and
national security. The final decision belongs to the president of Romania,
who, under the Constitution, is responsible for Romania’s foreign policy
decisions and represents the country internationally, the statement also
writes.

Disappointed, by her own accounts, by the
president’s reaction, prime minister Viorica Dancila said moving the embassy is
good for the country and that this fact and the desire to move closer to Israel
and the United States does not mean that Romania is moving away from the
European Union. At this moment, all EU member states’ embassies are in Tel
Aviv. The idea to move Romania’s embassy to Jerusalem was unexpectedly launched
by the leader of the Social Democratic Party Liviu Dragnea and was interpreted
as an attempt to ingratiate himself with the Republican administration in
Washington and underline the constitutional role of the current president.