Romania PM heads to EU summit despite court ruling

Bucharest: Romania’s prime minister has travelled to a European Union summit, despite a court ruling that the country’s president — his political rival — should attend the two-day meeting. [caption id=“attachment_360823” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Romania’s Prime Minister and Social Liberal Union alliance leader Ponta. Reuters”]  [/caption] The Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that President Traian Basescu should represent Romania in Brussels. But Basescu remained in Bucharest to avoid creating what he called “an embarrassing situation.” Still, the center-right president said Thursday that Prime Minister Victor Ponta was “illegitimately” representing Romania by ignoring the court ruling. Ponta noted that parliament voted in June to endorse his presence at the summit and claimed the judges are politically biased. Ponta and Basescu have been embroiled in a political dispute since Ponta, who heads the center-left Social Democracy Party, became prime minister on 7tH May. AP