Nicusor Dan, stuck overnight in Paris. Why the Spartan military plane that flew to France can't reach the country
A C-27J Spartan aircraft of the Romanian Air Force. Photo source: Ministry of National Defense / Facebook.com
President Nicușor Dan will not be able to return from France to Romania on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, due to the unfavorable weather conditions in our country.
Due to the unfavorable weather, the Spartan military plane, which transported the Romanian head of state to Paris, cannot land in Romania, write the Antena 3 CNN and Digi24 websites.
Thus, the military aircraft with which Nicușor Dan and the Romanian journalists arrived in Paris will no longer take off from the French capital because the thick fog in Bucharest would prevent the aircraft from landing.
The National Meteorological Administration (ANM) issued, on Tuesday, Yellow Code warnings of quantitatively significant precipitation, snow, snow cover, poles, wind intensifications in the northern half of the country until Thursday morning, as well as an information of snow, snow cover, wind intensifications, frost, which is valid until Friday morning.
New severe weather warnings. Yellow code of frost, snow and ice in more than half of the country / Map of the affected areas
Special weather forecast for Bucharest. What will the temperatures be in the next three days?
Also on Tuesday, French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot announced that airlines had already been ordered to cancel at least 40 percent of flights from Paris' main Charles de Gaulle airport the following morning and a quarter of flights from the smaller Orly airport.
And more chaos on Europe's airports and roads. New waves of cold and heavy snow are hitting the entire continent
Nicușor Dan, explanations about the presidential plane
The president chose to travel to the French capital on board the Spartan plane, before takeoff Nicușor Dan explained to journalists that Romania cannot afford a presidential plane.
He said that this choice explains the “30 million reduction” in the spending of the Presidential Administration. The head of state announced that he would take steps to purchase a presidential aircraft “at the right time”, but that “now is not the time”.
“Now is not the time, but, for example, in this plane (Spartan, no) we have no communications. For four and a half hours, I was disconnected from the reality in Romania and this is not normal”, said Nicusor Dan.
Regarding the longer journeys in which he will not be able to use a military plane, Nicusor Dan replied that the situation will be evaluated “on a case-by-case basis”.
“We were going to go to Colombia, for that meeting. And then we were going to rent a plane. Because this one doesn't fly all the way there. A decision will be made on a case-by-case basis. If it's a commercial location, such as Washington or New York, then it's simple. If not, on a case-by-case basis,” the head of state said on Tuesday, quoted by News.ro.
On Monday, Nicusor Dan announced that the expenses of the Presidential Administration in 2025 were reduced by 30%, i.e. 30 million lei, more than what was committed in July.
The president participated, on Tuesday, in the meeting of the heads of state and government from the countries that make up the “Coalition of the Will”, in Paris.
