George Simion and Nicușor Dan, ask how they will guarantee the release of the press. “I came back to the communist censorship” / “I will not restrict the access of a journalist”

During the debate organized on Thursday evening by Euronews Romania, the candidates for the presidential elections, George Simion and Nicușor Dan, were asked how they will guarantee, in their mandate, the freedom of the press, in the context in which, in the last period, several journalists have been attacked or prevented from participating in public events.

George Simion said that organizations have the right to establish their rules on access to journalists, but that this does not mean restricting the freedom of the press: “It depends on what events. There are public events, there are events that you attend, there are private events … I think it is the option of each organization to impose some rules. For example, we did not want to go. Outside.

He added a quote from Ion Rațiu, which also used Călin Georgescu. “I will fight until the last drop for the right of each one to have a different opinion than mine. A great Romanian politician said and then resumed the best president that Romania did not have.”

Simion claimed that journalists should not be assaulted and accused that his supporters were censored in the online space. He said that the state is trying to silence the uncomfortable voices: “What happened in recent months, the attempt of the police to censure certain journalists and certain influences – you do not have to have a diploma of journalist to speak freely in the public space – I give the example of Bobby D, Master Ion Cârsu. Tucă, just because they spoke about the coup.

He also said: “I apologize that I talked more about it, but it is inadmissible what happened in the public space in recent months. I have returned to the communist censorship. Surely,” Simion added, mentioning that the gold organized demonstrations were “peaceful”.

Nicușor Dan: “An NGO that had access to information will not restrict the access of a journalist”

Nicușor Dan responded referring to his term of general mayor: “If we want to look at the future, we have to see what happened in the past. I was the mayor of Bucharest, I came to the town hall, where we found litigations initiated by the former mayor against the journalists, who asked, on behalf of the institution, to the institution.

He also said: “We made the press conference, all the press, to which I answered all the questions. This is about. The City Hall no longer has disputes on Law 544, on the law of access to public information. An NGO that had access to information never to restrict access to information to a journalist.”