Romania's ousted Prime Minister Radu Vasile has abandoned his fight to keep his job.

President Emil Constantinescu dismissed Mr Vasile early on Tuesday after more than half the cabinet resigned in protest over the slow pace of economic reform.

Mr Vasile had initially vowed to stay on as prime minister, saying his sacking was unconstitutional.

But after a day in which his support base waned, Mr Vasile said in a televised interview that he would return to the senate.

"I have done my duty," he said. "I have decided to return to the senate to allow the government to work for European integration."

At last week's EU summit in Helsinki, Romania was invited to join membership talks, but the EU also made it clear that Bucharest had to step up reforms.

Presidential spokesman Rasvan Popescu said the government crisis had been kept under wraps until now, so that the country would appear to be politically stable.

Replacement

A new interim government has convened, with the 10 ministers who resigned agreeing to stay on.

All 18 ministers attended Tuesday's session.

Mr Popescu said the turnout was a clear signal that Mr Vasile was losing the support of his ruling coalition.

Labour and Social Affairs Minister, Alexandru Athanasiu, was appointed to replace Mr Vasile.

Mr Athanasiu told Romanian Pro-TV: "I am not willing to be a full prime minister. I am just willing to perform my duties as an interim."

Legal experts were divided over the legality of the prime minister's sacking, with some arguing that only parliament could dismiss Mr Vasile, and others backing the rights of the president.

Romania's 1991 constitution made the country a parliamentary republic and limited the president's powers.

Mr Vasile and President Constantinescu are both members of the same party - the Christian Democrats.

But it was cabinet members from the two other coalition parties - seven Social Democrats and three Liberals - who resigned on Monday.

Economic woes

Mr Vasile had only been prime minister since March 1998, since when Romania has failed to meet commitments made to international financial bodies.

The 1999 inflation rate looks set to top 45%, exceeding the 25% laid down by the International Monetary Fund.

The European Central Bank forecasts gross domestic product will be down 4% from last year, and there are more than 1m unemployed out of the 23m population.