How much the external trips of the premiers Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciuca cost. Ciolacu flew more with the military plane than General Ciuca. In the data there is also a flight of almost 200,000 euros
In a response to Hotnews, the Government shows that the transport for the movements of former prime ministers Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciuca cost about 4 million lei, ie about 800,000 euros. The two flew 38 times, with line flights, military aircraft and rented aircraft.
- In 2023, Hotnews asked the Government with information about the framework for organizing external displacements of the high dignitaries. And the executive's response was that the information is secreted.
- HotNews has obtained the information published following a new request based on Law 544/2001 on free access to public information
Nicolae Ciucă was appointed prime minister on November 25, 2021 and resigned on June 12, 2023, being replaced by Marcel Ciolacu, according to the Coalition Protocol which provided for the rotation of the premiers.
How many external trips did the PNL prime minister have
From November 2021 to June 2023, that is, for one year and almost 7 months, Nicolae Ciuca had 17 external trips:
- 9 with government aircraft (Government -rented aircraft),
- 4 with military aircraft,
- 2 with line flights,
- 1 visit to the Republic of Moldova for which the means of transport is not mentioned
The transport for the 17 trips cost a total of 2,715,640 lei (543,000 euros), and the total expenses, which involve the day, the accommodation and “other expenses” total 101,439 lei (about 20,000 euros).
The most expensive movement
The most expensive transport paid for public money for Nicolae Ciucă amounted to almost 450 thousand lei (448,130.47 lei – about 90,000 euros). The movement took place in Sweden and took place with a plane rented by the government. For the same displacement, for daytime, accommodation and expenses were spent 5,922.62 lei (about 1,000 euros), according to the response received by Hotnews.
For the 17 external trips of former Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, the government paid just over 30,000 lei for the accommodation expenses (32,095.4 lei), that is, more than 6,000 euros).
In the case of 11 trips, in terms of accommodation expenses the cost indicated by the Government is zero lei. These are visits to the Republic of Moldova, Warsaw, Bulgaria, the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Paris and Egypt.
How much did Ciolacu's travels cost. Flight of almost 200,000 euros in Emirate and Qatar
Marcel Ciolacu took over the position of prime minister on June 15, 2023. The mandate of the Ciolacu 1 government ended after the parliamentary elections, when, according to the Constitution, the president must designate a new prime minister. Klaus Iohannis also appointed Marcel Ciolacu. The second term lasted until May 6, 2025, when Ciolacu resigned from the failure of the coalition in the presidential elections. Crin Antonescu, a candidate supported by the PSD, PNL and UDMR, ranked third.
During the almost two years of mandate, Marcel Ciolacu had 21 external trips.
In total, the transport for the movements of the former prime minister Ciolacu cost 1,427,517 lei (about 285,000 euros). Diurna, accommodation and other summed expenses reach 166,530 lei (about 33,000 euros).
In the case of Ciolacu, the most expensive transport was almost 920,000 lei (184,000 euros), to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. And in this case, an aircraft rented by the government was used.
Ciolacu flew several times by military plane than General Ciuca
Unlike Nicolae Ciuca, Marcel Ciolacu used military aircraft several times. Ciuca used military aircraft in three external trips, and Ciolacu, in 11.
If Nicolae Ciucă used nine times planes rented by the government, Marcel Ciolacu resorted to this solution twice during the mandate he had at the Victoria Palace. The former PSD prime minister has flew eight times with line aircraft.
About 66,000 lei (13,000 euros) were spent for Marcel Ciolacu's accommodation expenses in the 21 external trips. In the case of six trips to Chisinau (twice), Varna, Israel (twice) and Egypt, the cost for accommodation indicated by the government is zero lei.
The scandal of the secretization of Iohannis's flights: 23 million euros and private planes
The Presidential Administration refused on several occasions to make public the expenses with the transport and accommodation abroad of former President Klaus Iohannis, reasoning that this is secret. The press has reported several times that the president flew with private planes that were rented
However, in March, after the resignation of former President Klaus Iohannis, the Presidential Administration published the expenses for the transport of the former head of state in external trips, expenses that were secreted. For the 193 visits during the two mandates, the total cost of flights was over 113 million lei, ie almost 23 million euros.
Only in 2023, the Presidential Administration spent over 7 million euros for the planes with which the former president traveled.
In March, Hotnews showed what the price provided, at the request of the publication, the aircraft rental companies compared to the Cotroceni Palace on the same destinations used by Iohannis.
