Romania's Consul to Turin recalled for consultations. Italian Interior minister Maroni to use legal means in response

Romania’s Consul to Turin Iulia Buje was recalled in the country for consultations, news televisions inform. The decision of the Foreign Affairs ministry comes after Buje attacked Italy’s Interior minister, Roberto Maroni.

In a statement for Romanian daily Cotidianul on Thursday, Iulia Buje said that, in 1998-2000, Maroni personally called Milan’s Romanian Consulate to help three Romanians extend their working permits. Buje, consul to Milan at the time says that she personally spoke to Maroni who wanted the situation resolved.

Italian minister’s spokesperson Isabella Votino dismissed all accusations put forward by Iulia Buje and added that her allegations were completely invented and that Maroni never had Romanian workers in his house, as Buje suggested. Votino declared that Maroni will use legal means to respond, Italian news agency ANSA informs. Moreover, Maroni talked to Italy’s Foreign minister to take diplomatic measures.

On Friday, Buje declared for Romanian newspaper Adevarul that the declarations she offered for Cotidianul were misinterpreted. She added that she couldn’t confirm whether the Italian Interior minister hired illegal Romanian workers or not. She said that Maroni called her to help three Romanians receive their identity confirmation and cut the cue. Buje declared that Cotidianul journalists assumed that the three Romanians were working for Maroni and that she did not declare this.