Nicușor Dan announces when SRI and SIE will have new heads / What he says about Lazurca and Zbârcea

President Nicusor Dan advanced a new deadline for the moment when Romania will have new heads of the main secret services, in an interview given to the Cotidianul website.

Nicușor Dan stated that he wants names from outside the political spectrum to head the intelligence services.

“Medium interval from this moment. An interval of medium length,” said the head of state, when asked about when SRI and SIE will have a new leadership. “By the end of the year, early next year, something like that,” he said.

“No, I think what's important is that these services work. At the moment, of course, if we're talking about the SRI, without having a civilian director as an intermediary, I work directly with them. I think that at the moment it's working”, answered Nicușor Dan, when asked if, five months after assuming the mandate of president, he should not have already appointed the heads of the two secret services.

“I'm not going to tell you anything”

During the interview, the head of state was also asked to comment on the two names circulated extensively in the public space for taking over the leadership of SRI and SIE – Marius Lazurca and Gabriel Zbârcea.

“Obviously I'm not going to tell you anything about the discussions we had and are having on this subject. (…) No, I said about Mr. Lazurca. I said that he is a person I know, a competent person and a person who can exercise a position at the national level. That's what I said, and at the moment he is exercising that of presidential adviser,” said the president.

And about Gabriel Zbârcea he specified: “I know him, yes, of course. We were colleagues in the Student League in the years '90-'92. (…) I was, I think we were more often opponents with his law firm. We also had a long discussion when I was mayor, they represented a company with which we had to manage a contract, so we had frequent contracts.”

Meanwhile, Marius Lazurca was appointed as Nicușor Dan's foreign policy adviser, according to an announcement made on October 6 by the Presidential Administration. Lazurca was in the past circulated as a variant for the leadership of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE). On September 15, he was recalled by Nicușor Dan from the position of ambassador of Romania to Mexico.

For the head of the SRI, the most circulated name so far has been that of the lawyer Gabriel Zbârcea. He has extensive experience in mergers, acquisitions, energy and natural gas law, military procurement programs and energy security projects in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, according to the law firm's website. The site also mentions that Gabriel Zbârcea “had an essential role in the privatization processes of state enterprises, including the first privatization transactions in Romania in the field of electricity, oil and gas”. Zbârcea's law firm pleaded against the Romanian state in the case of the Roșia Montană case, when it represented the Canadian firm that was demanding compensation of 6.5 billion dollars from Romania.

The president was also asked, in the interview published on Tuesday, to specify whether in the discussions with the leaders of the governing coalition he specifically discussed the appointments he intends to make to the leadership of the secret services.

“I can tell you what appointment we discussed because I'm waiting for the discussion to finish and you'll have some names and a vote and we'll close,” he added.

“I want that, yes. As I told you, the appointment I'm going to make will be in agreement with the parties in the coalition so that we don't generate additional tension in society,” concluded the president, thus emphasizing once again that he wants people from outside the parties or politics at the head of the secret services.

What Nicușor Dan said about the appointments from SRI and SIE

In June, President Nicușor Dan said in a press conference that a civil director is needed at SRI and that “a new SIE director is very likely needed.” Currently, SRI does not have a civilian director, and SIE is led by a former PSD deputy.

In another press conference, on July 30, Nicușor Dan revealed that he has “three, four names” in mind for the head of the SRI.

Also then, he said he would name the service chiefs “in the coming weeks.”

SRI was left without a director in 2023, after Eduard Hellvig announced his resignation. He held this position for eight years, since 2015. Since 2018, Gabriel Vlase (former social-democratic parliamentarian) has been at the helm of SIE.