BUCHAREST: Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Wednesday nominated candidates for the key posts of prosecutor general and head of the anti-graft prosecutor's office, a move criticised as lacking transparency.
Ponta said he had made the nominations to "avoid instability within the prosecutor's office", after the European Commission in January urged Bucharest to fill the posts as soon as possible.
The two candidates are former prosecutor general Laura Codruta Kovesi, tipped to become the head of the anti-graft prosecutor's office, and Tiberiu Nitu, expected to fill Kovesi's previous position.
Both jobs are crucial in the fight against high-level corruption, closely monitored by Brussels since Romania joined the European Union in 2007.
The nominations were submitted to the magistrates' supreme council (CSM) which must formulate an advisory opinion before referring them to president Traian Basescu, who has the final say.
Basescu earlier this year turned down two nominations made by former Justice Minister Mona Pivniceru who chose from several candidates, arguing the procedure lacked transparency.
"Now what we have is even worse. People are proposed but there was not even a fair and transparent mechanism to apply for these postings," Laura Stefan, an anti-corruption expert of ExpertForum think-tank, told AFP.
"The nominations were made without people knowing what criteria were used.
This is unacceptable. This is not a normal selection procedure and we can suspect it's all part of a political deal" among political parties, she stressed.
Ponta's move also sparked tension within the centre-left ruling coalition, whose leaders were summoned to an emergency meeting.
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