Minister of Foreign Affairs Oana Toiu has ordered the immediate recall and termination of the secondment to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) of Tamila Andreea Cristescu, who was seconded from the General Directorate for the Administration of Education and Sports Units, Sector 4, and assigned to a consular position at the Consulate General of Romania in New York, the MAE announced on Saturday.

According to a press release issued by the ministry, as part of the reform and capacity-strengthening process within the MAE, an initiative included in the government programme approved by Parliament, Minister Oana Toiu has requested that ministry departments carry out a rapid evaluation and present concrete reform proposals.

'These reforms must primarily focus on the professionalism of appointments and assignments within the external diplomatic and consular network. The stated objective is that such assignments be based on competence and professionalism. A specific dimension of this reform process involves evaluating the appropriateness of secondments from other public institutions to both the MAE headquarters and the external service. The same performance and competence criteria that apply to permanent MAE staff must also apply to seconded personnel. Assignments abroad in the foreign service must be made exclusively through competitive exams and, as a rule, involve MAE employees as a priority. Any exception must be justified in terms of necessity and appropriateness, and must comply with the same clear rules regarding competence and qualifications for the respective positions,' the ministry emphasises in the release. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Catalin Alexandru; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)