Vlad Voiculescu, after being appointed as honorary advisor of Nicușor Dan: “A mutual trust, gained over time”
Nicușor Dan, Vlad Voiculescu and Cătălin Drula Photo: Inquam Photos / George Călin
USR MEP Vlad Voiculescu stated, after the Presidential Administration announced his appointment as honorary advisor to President Nicușor Dan, that he will treat his presence in the presidential team as a real responsibility. On the other hand, Voiculescu intends to continue his activity as president of the Bucharest organization of USR and as a member of the European Parliament.
“I thank President Nicușor Dan for the mutual trust, one earned over time, and for the openness to what is to come. I am honored by the invitation to join the presidential team as an honorary adviser and I see this role as a real responsibility, not just a symbolic gesture. I know that President Nicușor Dan has a difficult, almost impossible mission in front of him in a system that is difficult to change, and his success will largely depend on how he showed the country many years from now”, wrote Vlad Voiculescu.
The former minister recalls that the position of honorary councilor is unpaid and does not have an executive component.
“In parallel, I will continue my work as president of USR Bucharest and EUR MEP, as the health coordinator of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament, to bring home concrete results for patients, for the health system and for the modernization of institutions in Romania, in line with what we are doing at the European level,” Voiculescu wrote.
Appointment of new councilors in Cotroceni
On Thursday, the President appointed new advisers to the team from Cotroceni, and among them is MEP Vlad Voiculescu, former Minister of Health.
Nicusor Dan appointed new advisers. Among them, the former Minister of Health Vlad Voiculescu. What do we know about the other names?
The Presidential Administration announced, on Thursday, that Nicușor Dan signed the following decrees:
- For the appointment of Valentin-Sorin Costreie as presidential adviser, starting on November 17, 2025 (Education and Research Department);
- For the appointment of Vlad Ionescu as state councilor, starting on December 1, 2025 (Department of Foreign Policy, Strategic Partnerships and Romanians Everywhere);
- Decree for the appointment of Mădălina-Gabriela Fătu to the position of State Counselor, starting on November 17, 2025 (General Secretariat of the Presidential Administration);
- Awarding the title of honorary advisor for resilience, innovation and European solidarity to Vlad Vasile-Voiculescu, starting on November 17, 2025;
- Granting Mr. Șerban Iftime the title of honorary advisor, starting on November 17, 2025 (Department of Economic and Social Policies).
Vlad Voiculescu was Minister of Health in the governments of Dacian Cioloș and Florin Cîțu. In 2024, he was elected MEP from the USR.
The National Anticorruption Directorate announced, in December 2023, that the criminal prosecution for abuse of office and complicity in abuse of office with particularly serious consequences, in the case of the purchase of anti-COVID vaccines, against former Prime Minister Florin Cîțu and former Ministers of Health Vlad Voiculescu and Ioana Mihăilă officially began.
In this file, Vlad Voiculescu is prosecuted for abuse of office, with particularly serious consequences (two acts), and complicity in abuse of office, with particularly serious consequences. DNA estimated the damage in this case at one billion euros.
Vlad Voiculescu publicly declared that he is innocent and that the decision regarding the amount of vaccines purchased was taken by the prime minister at the time, Florin Cîțu.
Vlad Voiculescu was dismissed in April 2021 by Florin Cîțu just five months after entering the government. The reason cited by the prime minister was an order signed by state secretary Andreea Moldovan regarding the new quarantine criteria, but the decision came at the end of several conflicts in the government between the USR minister and the liberal prime minister.
Vlad Voiculescu opposed Nicușor Dan in the USR-PLUS internal race for the nomination of the candidate in the 2020 local elections. Then, Vlad Voiculescu was nominated by PLUS, and Nicușor Dan by USR. In the end Nicușor Dan candidate in a PNL – USR-PLUS coalition and won his first mandate at the Capital City Hall.
