[JURIST] Romanian Justice Minister Florin Iordache, the man who originally introduced the corruption decree that sparked large protests [JURIST report], resigned [Al Jazeera report] on Thursday in the wake of protests calling for the government to resign. During his press conference [DIGI24 report, in Romanian], Iordache stated that since his time at the Justice Ministry [official website, in Romanian] began, he effectuated “only legal measures to remedy these preexisting and very sensitive problems.” He further stated that all of the actions he and the government had taken were legal and constitutional. “Regardless,” he concluded, “the public did not consider it sufficient, and this is why I submitted my resignation.”

Iordache’s resignation came the day after Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu survived a no-confidence vote [Politico report] that failed to garner the 233 votes needed to remove him from office. The controversial decree was passed [JURIST report] in early February, sparking immediate demonstrations. The decree was originally drafted on January 18. The following day, the government published a draft of a plan to reduce prison overcrowding [JURIST report] that involved pardons for thousands of prisoners, which was met with protests around the country. The government insisted that a referendum [JURIST report] on the government’s plan to pardon the prisoners was needed despite protests. The decree was repealed [JURIST report], but protests continue in many parts of Romania. In a statement following the repeal, the government noted that it had heard the voice of the street and did not want to divide Romania. Many of the demonstrations [Al Jazeera report] are calling for the government to step down, despite the repeal of the decree. In 2015 Romania’s Superior Magistrates’ Council rejected 22 proposals that would have made it harder to fight top-level corruption [JURIST report].