European Commission spokesperson Mark Gray says that statements made by a Romanian politician quoted by a Romanian newspaper on Monday, according to whom EC President Manuel Barroso has requested the resignation of Romanian Foreign minister Adrian Cioroianu were false.

Cristian Diaconescu, spokesman of Romania's main opposition party, the Social-Democrats (PSD), who put forward these declarations, told HotNews.ro that Barroso’s diplomatic twists are not to be misinterpreted.

Diaconescu added that Barroso agreed with the line defended by the Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish organization that clearly asked for the minister’s resignation.

Another EC spokesperson said that while Barroso did not request the Romanian minister’s resignation, the Commission president cannot accept the kind of declarations such as those made by Cioroianu and sanctioned by the Wiesenthal Center.

Minister Cioroianu said recently that criminals belonging to the Rroma community should be sent to re-education camps in the Egyptian desert. He later withdrew the comment and said he only made it as a "human reaction" to the killing of an Italian woman by a Romanian suspect of Rroma origin.