“I was a kind of political father of Nicușor Dan.” Orban veiledly criticizes the president, who “gets along so well with Grindeanu” and makes “somewhat equivocal statements”

Ludovic Orban, who left Nicușor Dan's team at the president's initiative, said on B1 TV on Thursday that from his position as presidential adviser he would have advised the head of state not to dismiss him, citing among other things his “calibre”, but also the fact that he was “like a kind of political father” for the current leader from Cotroceni.

Asked if he expected the “wave of disapproval” caused by the president's decision to remove him from the team, Nicușor Dan's former advisor on internal policy issues said: “I expected it. If he had asked me, as a presidential advisor, whether to fire Ludovic Orban, I would have told him that there is an advisor that my advice would be not to fire, for several reasons.”

“Let's put false modesty aside,” Ludovic Orban continued, citing his “calibre, background, experience” as reasons why he believes the president should not have fired him.

Another reason cited by Ludovic Orban was the role he considers to have played in the political rise of Nicușor Dan: “The fact that a lot of people know what I did for Nicușor Dan, I was like a kind of political father of Nicușor Dan, from the 2020 Capital City Hall, the 2024 Capital City Hall, including the 2025 presidential elections.”

The former prime minister also mentioned a third reason: “The fact that what I think and what I say is largely in accordance with the expectations of those who believed in Nicușor Dan, who do not think they are pleased when they see that Nicușor Dan gets along so well with Grindeanu. I do not think they are pleased at all when he gives somewhat equivocal statements related to the special pensions of magistrates.”

“I would have advised him not to attempt this mediation”

Asked why he believes that Nicușor Dan makes “equivocal statements” regarding magistrates' pensions, Ludovic Orban said that the president “is a man who must mediate”.

“He tried to mediate. He had good intentions to try to mediate and reach a solution so as to avoid the possibility of attacking the Constitutional Court, only he cannot discuss with the current leaders of the magistrates, i.e. the president of the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the president of the CSM, because they are completely unreasonable. If he had asked me whether to generate this mediation, I would have advised him not to try this mediation. The mediation he did between the parties last March was enough,” continued Nicușor Dan's former adviser.

Ludovic Orban was then asked why he “assumed the role of publicly criticizing” the magistrates.

“I did not criticize publicly. I am consistent in the statements I have given over time and including the position that the president had, and I expressed a position according to the position of the president, which had a certain flexibility, manifested only with the desire to reach an agreement (…). I basically expressed the will of the president, who tried to reach an agreement in order to avoid a new attack on the Constitutional Court which lead to, practically, the loss of the 230 million to which we are entitled from the 3rd tranche of the PNRR”, concluded Orban.