As a result of the revelations published in the newspapers, the politician admitted on Thursday that it was made based on a model downloaded from the Internet, in his hastily submitted professional CV, a university qualification that did not correspond to reality “carelessly” appeared,
and by publishing another university diploma, he tried to prove that he had the advanced education required for government positions.
However, as a result of the attacks on him, his party and the government, Mosteanu announced in a Facebook post on Friday: he is resigning as head of the ministry so that the attacks on him do not call into question the credibility of the Romanian army.
Mosteanu, who was appointed head of the Ministry of Defense in June and graduated in 1992, has already been asked by the press why he did not complete military service. At the time, the politician explained this by saying that he “messed around” with the university for a long time, he stopped several training courses because he had to work, and in the private sector the diploma was not important, and by the time he graduated, it was already known that military service would not be mandatory from 2007.
The newspaper Libertatea found out that when Mosteanu was first appointed to a position at the Ministry of Transport that required a higher education in 2016, he listed himself as a holder of a diploma from the Atheneum private university in his resume at the time, which the institution denied. The politician also admitted that he actually holds a diploma from Bioterra University, which he obtained in 2015, a decade and a half after he was a student at the educational institution between 1995-1999.
The opposition Association for the Unification of Romanians (AUR) demanded the immediate dismissal of the minister, accusing Mostenau of holding all kinds of important, well-paid public positions for 10 years.
graduated from fictitious majors, based on incomplete university studies, falsifying his professional resume according to his current interests.
Ilia Bolojanthe liberal prime minister of the four-party coalition government in Bucharest, said in a Thursday evening TV program that he is not interested in resumes and encouraged Mosteanu to persevere, who finally announced his resignation after some members of his own party requested a vote of confidence in his case.
It is not the first time that the USR has withdrawn its trust from its own politician: at the beginning of the year, the party chairman at the time, Elena Lasconi remained without support when the party’s leadership – led by Ionut Mostenau – preferred Nicosor Dan lined up behind an independent candidate in the presidential election.
Ionut Mosteanu was one of the government’s five deputy ministers. According to the coalition agreement, the USR can nominate an official for the head of the Ministry of Defense and the vacant post of Deputy Prime Minister.
Cover image source: MTI/EPA/Robert Ghement
