Wisselingen in Roemeens kabinet om voortgang EU-toetreding te bespoedigen (en)

The Romanian prime minister has sacked four of the ministers in his government in a bid to speed up the tough reforms needed if the country is to join the EU in 2007, as planned.

The outgoing ministers are Ionut Popescu for finance, Ene Dinga for European integration, Mircea Cinteza for health, and the vice prime minister in charge of economic sectors, Gheorghe Seculici.

The cabinet reshuffle took place on Monday (22 August) and has been expected for some time as Bucharest struggles to stay within a Brussels deadline for bringing EU-inspired changes to the country's laws.

According to Reuters, finance minister Mr Popescu angered party colleagues by announcing an unpopular VAT rise without clearing it first with his partners in the government.

Speaking about the reshuffle, prime minister Calin Tariceanu said "We need ministers who will perform superbly, not just well".

Last month, Mr Tariceanu resigned after Romania's constitutional court blocked judicial reforms demanded by the EU, but he later reversed his decision.

Progress report in October

The country's political landscape has also been marred by disagreement between its prime minister and president.

According to the Sofia News Agency, Romanian politician Radu Campeanu said the ongoing disagreements between president Traian Basescu and prime minister Calin Tariceanu must be solved as they are impeding Romania's EU integration.

Mr Tariceanu's reshuffle comes just weeks before the European Commission is due to publish its annual progress report on Bucharest's accession progress.

This report, due in October, could determine whether the country is on track to join the EU in 2007.

If the reform process is considered too slow by member states, they can opt to delay membership until 2008.

This is also the case with the other accession country Bulgaria, whose reforms suffered a serious delay with the seven-week bickering that followed the country's June elections before a new government was formed.