Emil Boc, Romanian Prime Minister, Resigns Amid Protests BERLIN - After weeks of protests, Romania's prime minister resigned Monday, the latest European leader to fall victim to a mood of public outrage over austerity measures and stagnant growth. Thousands of Romanians took to the streets across the country last month to protest austerity measures. The prime minister, Emil Boc, said Monday that he was stepping down because "it is important to have stability." The president, Traian Basescu, has proposed that the justice minister, Catalin Predoiu, take the reins for now. Mr. Basescu was scheduled to meet with leaders from the main political parties Monday evening to discuss a longer-term successor. Parliamentary elections were already scheduled for later this year, by law no later than November, and the government had fallen below 20 percent approval rating in recent opinion surveys. The economy had begun growing again after a deep recession in 2009 and 2010, but Mr. Boc's popularity suffered after he raised taxes sharply and made steep cuts in government wages to comply with a rescue program from the International Monetary Fund. With his resignation, Mr. Boc joined leaders from around the European Union who have left office: in countries that have received bailouts, like Portugal, Greece and Ireland; in those on shaky ground like Spain and Italy; and in more fiscally stable countries like Finland, Denmark and Slovakia. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France hopes to avoid seeing his name added to the list of ousted leaders when voters go to the polls this spring, but the public has shown a voracious appetite for political change as difficult economic conditions persist. Even as Europe's attention remains focused on the debt negotiations in Athens and its repercussions for the euro, Mr. Boc's resignation served as a stark reminder of the troubles facing countries outside of the euro currency area. The Hungarian national airline, Malev, halted all flights Friday, as creditors began seizing its planes parked on foreign soil over unpaid debts. Hungary, which has also been the scene of large-scale demonstrations, is seeking further assistance from the International Monetary Fund. Romania suffered a sharp reversal of fortune as the global financial crisis worsened and foreign lending tightened up. After the economy grew 7.3 percent in 2008, it shrank a painful 6.6 percent in 2009, according to Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency. The country was forced to turn to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Union in 2009 for emergency loans totally $27 billion at the exchange rates at the time. Unlike Hungary, however, which is also struggling to stabilize itself and has had bumpy negotiations with the I.M.F., Romania is "on track" in goals of improving economic growth while maintaining fiscal and financial stability, according to an assessment of the country's progress under the loan program released Sunday by staff members from the monetary fund, World Bank and European Union. "I don't anticipate the change in government would necessarily cause any major changes in that," said Jeffrey Franks, the fund's mission chief for Romania, in a telephone interview from Bucharest. The key focus is to maintain the hard-fought, hard-won economic stability that Romania has achieved at some considerable sacrifice in recent years. The fund had been in discussions with opposition as well as governing parties, and Mr. Franks said there was "broad political support for the main issues in the program." Austerity has become a controversial topic in Europe as the debt crisis has worsened. From Greece to Ireland, opponents have criticized a philosophy pushed by Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel, for what they see as painful cutbacks in services and public employment to pay for bad decisions by financial institutions and mismanagement by governments. Many economists, particularly in the United States, argue that tightening spending at a time of stagnation or even outright recession only prevents robust recovery. Mr. Franks said that the I.M.F. assistance provides a lifeline and gives countries like Romania more time to make necessary changes. "In the end, for small countries like Romania, particularly emerging markets, the ability to run large fiscal deficits is constrained by the willingness of someone to lend," Mr. Franks said. Political analysts said Mr. Boc's resignation did not come as a surprise. "From a political point of view, the ruling coalition was already exhausted," said Dorel Sandor, a political analyst and consultant in Bucharest. Mr. Sandor said that the demonstrations revealed a deep disappointment with all political parties and not just the government. "The common people in the streets react against everybody," he said, "and this could be a sign of real trouble for the political environment in Romania." Protests have continued over the past week, albeit on a smaller scale. Demonstrators said the resignation of a popular health official (which proved short-lived) and the proposed reform of the health care system only provided the spark for the protests, which quickly grew to reflect a broader discontent with their wages and pensions, with employment prospects and deep-seated corruption. "I took this decision to defuse the political and social situation in the country, but also in order not to lose what Romanians have won with so much suffering - the economic stability of the country," Mr. Boc said. Mihai Radu contributed reporting from Bucharest.