BUCHAREST (Romania) - ROMANIAN Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu fired a Cabinet minister on Tuesday for using a government helicopter to make it to his wedding on time.

Mr Tariceanu took the action against Education Minister Cristian Adomnitei, 33, after it emerged that he and another minister had attended a government meeting in Bucharest that was called at the last minute on Saturday, then ridden the chopper 485 kilometers to Iasi, the city where Mr Adomnitei was getting married that day.

Using government property for personal reasons is forbidden in Romania. But the other minister was traveling to the same area on government business and only dropped Mr Adomnitei off in Iasi so he could make the wedding, the ministers said.

That has left some observers wondering whether the firing wasn't more related to the fact that Mr Adomnitei, who also is a legislator, had angered the prime minister last week by joining a majority oflegislators in Parliament who voted to raise teachers' salaries by 50 per cent in Romania.

Mr Tariceanu had said the country couldn't afford that, and Mr Adomnitei later apologised for his vote.

Mr Adomnitei also has been criticised while serving as education minister for a series of gaffes, including speaking Romanian incorrectly and not knowing how many stars are on the European Union flag.

Mr Tariceanu proposed that Mr Anton Anton, a state secretary for research, should replace Mr Adomnitei as education minister. -- AP