Ciolos said he would accept and he would keep the position as long as he will be able to carry out his responsibilities. If accepted by the president, he will replace Decebal Traian Remes who resigned yesterday on corruption allegations, after a video showing him taking bribe was broadcast on the public television channel.

Ciolos said he will dismiss all the Cabinet secretaries in the ministry of agriculture, now under the European Commission’s magnifying glass owing to unsolved issues with the payment system, if Romania is sanctioned in Brussels.

Romania joined the European Union at the beginning of the year with the promise to stamp out high level corruption and continue reforms in agriculture, among others.

Minister Remes is the first minister to resign on corruption suspicions this year. He handed in his resignation following the premier’s request and after the country’s public television channel broadcast a leaked tape showing him allegedly taking 15,000 euros as bribe.

Remes was to give support to businessman Gheorghe Ciorba to win several auctions while a former agriculture minister allegedly acted as intermediary between the incumbent minister and businessman.

In exchange for his help, Remes was to receive 15,000 euros plus food products worth 1,500 lei, beverages and a car. Remes met Muresan on September 22 at a terrace in downtown Bucharest. Muresan handed Remes an envelope. Their meeting was caught on film.

The institution Remes was heading received harsh criticism after the European Commission established a one-month deadline for Romania to solve problems with the payment system in agriculture; unless Romania complies, EC will cut 25 percent of its money allotments to this area.

Commissioner for agriculture, Mariann Fischer Boel yesterday sent a letter to Remes, informing on the possibility of cutting 25 percent of funds if several serious lacks in the payments management system are not solved before December 1. An answer is awaited by November 9.