Romanian President Declines Honorary Scientists Academy Title

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"Regarding the proposition of the Academy of Scientists in Romania to make President Traian Basescu an honorary member, the Presidential Administration announced the initiative has not received the consent of the president or the presidential institution," the president's office said in a news release Friday.

Basescu thanked the Academy, but said he cannot accept the title because giving the academy a headquarters and promulgating a law regulating it are simply part of his job, the release states.

The Academy' general assembly on Thursday unanimously designated Basescu designated honorary member of the Academy of Scientists in Romania. The academy said it wants to honor Basescu for supporting the institution while he was mayor of capital Bucharest.

Social democrat senator Olguta Vasilescu said she protests to Basecu being offered an academic title, adding she was among the initiators of the law that reinstated the Academy.

"I am embarrassed that Traian Basescu is granted academic titles when he himself said he used to skip school," she said, adding Basescu's membership in the Academy would make academic titles worthless.

The Academy of Scientists in Romania is the institution created from the Academy of Science in Romania (1936 - 1948) and the Association of Scientists in Romania, founded in 1956.

The Academy was reorganized by law in 2007, during Basescu's first term as president.