The decision on choosing a space as residence of the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) directors does not at any stage involve the management of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE), the institution reported, according to Agerpres.

The clarification comes in the context in which the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, ordered the urgent verification of the conditions under which the contract for renting the residence for its director was concluded by the Romanian Cultural Institute in London.

„The evaluation and identification of these spaces belong to commissions appointed at the level of each Romanian cultural institute abroad by the directors of the institutes, the verification of compliance with the legal procedure falls to the specialized structures of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the minister says.

According to the cited source, Minister Aurescu ordered the immediate termination of the rental contract in question, with the result that the residence of the director of ICR London will be established in the institute’s headquarters, at 1st Belgrave Square. The head of Romanian diplomacy also ordered the verification of the situation of all similar contracts, as well as steps to review/modernize the procedures used to conclude this type of contract.

„Considering that, according to the information sent by ICR London, at the time of assuming the position by the director of ICR London, no available spaces were identified within the premises of the building at the address 1st Belgrave Square that could be used as living space with residence status of the head of the institute, ICR London proceeded to survey the market and identify a space that corresponds to the criteria,” reads the information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the ministry, „the assessment of the appropriateness, size and decency of the space chosen as a residence belongs exclusively to the director of ICR London, who exercises the capacity of the main credit release authority for the institute’s activities and operation”.

The MAE representatives remind that steps are being taken at the ministry level to make the new General Consulate in London operational, aiming to offer all consular services in a single space suitable for carrying out the activity.

„The relocation of the ICR London director’s residence to the ICR London headquarters may take place, including taking into account the prospect of the release in the next period of the spaces in his headquarters in 1st Belgrave Square where the activities of the Consulate General are currently carried out,” the MAE explains.

Agerpres