Ex-king hits out at politicians

Romania’s former king Michael has accused the country’s politicians of letting their personal squabbles prevent them from running the country.

Michael said in a statement yesterday that Romanians protesting against the government and austerity measures have expressed their frustration at politicians “who never looked beyond their narrow interests”.

The 90-year-old Michael is one of the few surviving heads of state from the Second World War. He was king from 1927 to 1930 when he was still a child and again from 1940 to 1947, when communists forced him to abdicate.