New Romanian foreign minister after scandal resignation

(BUCHAREST) - A former ambassador to the European Union was apppointed Romania's new foreign minister Monday after his predecessor resigned in a scandal involving a Romanian who died in a Polish jail.

Lazar Comanescu, 58, a career diplomat, headed his country's mission to NATO in Brussels during 1998-2001 before returning there as envoy to the EU until last year.

Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu's nomination of Comanescu was quickly approved by President Traian Basescu.

Comanescu succeeds Adrian Cioroianu who resigned last week over a scandal involving the death in January of Daniel Crulic, 33, after a two-month hunger strike in a Polish prison to protest his innocence of theft charges.

The affair came to light in the media at the beginning of April, prompting heavy criticism of the Romanian consulate in Warsaw which had allegedly ignored letters from Crulic informing it of his situation.

Last week Tariceanu criticised the foreign ministry for the way it had handled the affair and demanded the recall of its consul in Warsaw.

Cioroianu said he had not been informed of the Crulic case but took responsibility and resigned.

The foreign ministry has sent a team of investigators to Warsaw to probe the consulate's handling of the affair.

Even before the affair causing his resignation, Cioroianu had created a stir, sparking protests by a Jewish group for proposing that Romania "should buy a plot of land in the Egyptian desert to put people who cause problems."

The remark was prompted by the murder of an Italian woman in Italy allegedly by a Romanian gypsy.