Romania says sorry for embassy invitation gaffe

Romania's foreign ministry apologised on Friday after its embassy in Paris sent out invitations for a reception and accidentally attached a spreadsheet with unflattering descriptions of some of the guests.

The embassy had emailed invitations to representatives of the Romanian diaspora for a reception to mark a Feb. 10 visit by incoming President Klaus Iohannis to France.

The spreadsheet described some guests as "undesirable" and one of them as "ghastly", according to a letter of complaint sent to the Romanian ambassador by one of the invitees, which was published in Romanian daily Cotidianul.

"Annotations on the document for internal use do not reflect the opinion or assessment of the Romanian embassy in Paris and they are purely personal, so the responsible person was sanctioned," the ministry said in a statement.