Barely noted, Romanian PM resigns

Romanian politics has been more than usually fractious in the last few weeks, as noted on this blog. Now the Prime Minister, Emil Boc, has resigned, carefully timing his going

so as not to coincide with the IMF mission to Bucharest, which ended on Sunday with praise for the government's actions and only a slight cut in the fund's growth forecast for the country, due to the persisting euro-zone troubles.

The next general election is scheduled for November but may well come sooner:

The president has appointed Catalin Predoiu, the outgoing justice minister, to take over for Mr Boc on an interim basis, and he has nominated Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, the head of the country's foreign-intelligence service, as the new prime minister. Mr Ungureanu and his ministers are likely to be approved, as the ruling coalition still holds a majority in the lower house. But the opposition has promised to continue a boycott of parliament started last week. "We are not going anywhere with this new government," said Crin Antonescu, head of the Liberal Party. For him and his like-minded colleagues, the only way forward is an early vote.

Politics always seem to be more exciting in other countries. I really do not think that having your fingers prized off a ministerial portfolio because you blatantly broke the law can compare with the way they arrange matters in those far-off lands.