Romanian president Traian Basescu approved the appointment of the country's former ambassador to the European Union, Lazar Comanescu, as foreign minister, the presidency's press service said in a statement.

Basescu signed the decree just an hour after prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu nominated Comanescu, in start contrast to the two-month debate that preceded the appointment of Comanescu's predecessor, Adrian Cioroianu.

Cioroianu resigned last week after the row caused by the ministry's alleged mishandling of the case involving a Romanian national who died in January in a Polish hospital following a hunger strike, which he started to protest his arrest by authorities in Warsaw.

Cioroianu admitted his resignation was caused by the case, but refused to take any blame for the criticism levelled at himself and the ministry. "The blame was never with the minister, but a human life is more important than the ministerial portfolio," Cioroianu told reporters at a news conference late on April 11.

Comanescu, 59, served as Romania's head of mission to the EU and Nato in 1998/2001 and then ambassador to the EU from 2001. His name was reported to be on the short-list for Romania's nomination to the European Commission in 2006.

He became the target of public scrutiny in 2002, when he was criticised by media for spending too much on a building in Brussels that would serve as Romania's embassy to the EU, daily Cotidianul reported on April 14.

Comanescu, a career diplomat, was picked to redress Romania's less-than-favourable image in diplomatic circles abroad, cause by Cioroianu's repeated missteps in his 12 months in office, sources from the ruling Liberal party said, as quoted by the daily.