Union members from the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs complain about the „public humiliation” of diplomatic professionals by appointing a gynecologist as consul in Bilbao.
The union group established within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the SCUT Public Administration Union sent an open letter to the Foreign Minister, Luminiţa Odobescu (photo), after Bianca-Miruna Gavriliţă, a gynecologist, was appointed as the Consul General of Romania in Bilbao (Spain).
The union members ask the minister to make public:
• The justification of the commission within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs composed of the state secretaries Daniela Grigore-Gîtman, Janina Sitaru, Traian Hristea, the Secretary-General Lucreţia Tănase, and the Director-General Irina-Felicia Marin, for the proposal to appoint Bianca-Miruna Gavriliţă
• The criteria based on which Bianca Gavriluţă was selected among the 6 people who applied for this position in the procedure initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 1, 2024, criteria that could not be met, at least to the same extent, by candidates with diplomatic and consular career status.
• How the provisions of the Statute of the Romanian Diplomatic and Consular Corps are promoted, specifically the condition of not being a member of political parties?
"We understand the respect for the law in its letter and spirit, in the sense of non-involvement in politics! However, Mrs. Gavriluţă's membership in the political party from which she resigned 'a week before,' as she herself publicly declares in an interview, undoubtedly demonstrates the politicization of the consular field and a gross defiance towards all career professionals in the institution you lead, which still aims to be elite.
This unprecedented appointment represents a public humiliation of diplomatic professionals, professionals who have built their careers over time, with restrictions, solid studies, and continuous training programs, exams, and multiple competitions," reads a press release sent on Wednesday by Cartel Alfa and signed by President Bogdan Hossu.
Libertatea writes that Bianca Gavriliţă, a gynecologist by profession, was a PSD deputy between 2016 and 2020.
With a Jordanian father and a Romanian mother, fluent in Arabic and English, Gavriliţă claims that although from the outside, "apparently" there is no connection between the profession of a doctor and that of a consul, in fact, "there is a very strong connection."
She stated that she resigned from the party a week before starting the procedures for her appointment as consul.