Romania’s former Foreign minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu announced his self-suspension from the National Liberal Party (PNL) in a letter sent to the party leadership on Monday. Ungureanu explained that his being part of a political group would not be compatible with the job of special representative to the South East Europe Cooperation Initiative-SECI.

Ungureanu, who resigned early this year and left office officially by mid-March, had said however he did not want to take over the SECI job that was especially reactivated for him when he submitted his resignation.

The SECI special representative post is assimilated to that of first secretary within the Romanian Foreign Ministry, which is incompatible with political involvement.