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Klaus Iohannis' last day at Cotroceni Palace, with end-of-term ceremony to take place on Wednesday

March 10, 2025

The outgoing President Klaus Iohannis ends his term at the Cotroceni Palace, with the interim position to be taken over by the President of the Senate, Ilie Bolojan, on Wednesday.The ceremony to end Iohannis' term will take place on Wednesday, at 12:00, at the Cotroceni Palace, according to the Presidential Administration.Klaus Iohannis resigned from office on Monday, in the context in which the Parliament had initiated the procedure to suspend him from his position as head of state. He claimed that the suspension procedure would lead Romania into crisis and ''absolutely no one will understand what the point of such an approach is, when the incumbent president will leave anyway''. "In other words, we will effectively be the laughing stock of the world," Klaus Iohannis said on Monday when announcing his resignation."In order to spare Romania and Romanian citizens from this crisis, from this unnecessary and negative development, I am resigning from the position of President of Romania. I will leave office (...) on February 12th. God bless Romania!", Iohannis said.The Constitutional Court (CCR) on Tuesday found the position of president of Romania vacant and ruled that Ilie Bolojan, president of the Senate, would take over the interim position at Cotroceni Palace from February 12.Klaus Iohannis was elected head of state for two terms. His last term was supposed to end on December 21, 2024, but the Constitutional Court annulled the presidential elections and decided that Iohannis would remain at Cotroceni until a new president is elected. The CCR's decision came after the Supreme Council for Country's Defense (CSAT) declassified intelligence received from the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the electoral campaign conducted by Calin Georgescu in the presidential elections.Ilie Bolojan is to take over the interim position at Cotroceni Palace until May. The first round of the presidential elections will be held on May 4, and the second on May 18. Bolojan will be suspended from the position of National Liberal Party's president.

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