Nicușor Dan says that he has 5 names on the list of proposals for heads of services and that the appointment “will happen relatively soon”
Nicusor Dan. Inquam Photos / Octav Ganea
In an interview given to Radio Romania Actualită, President Nicușor Dan stated that he has five names on the short list for the proposals for the future heads of the intelligence services. He also said that the parties have not yet made any suggestions, but that discussions are continuing.
“Five. Between the five there is a hierarchy. When my proposal will be sent to the Parliament, you will see that it will be voted on,” the president answered when asked about how many names he has on the short list for the heads of SRI and SIE.
Nicușor Dan said that, in the almost nine months since he has been at the Cotroceni Palace, he has not yet submitted the nomination proposals for the heads of the intelligence services to the Parliament because the decision is a joint one – of the president and the parties in the Parliament:
“There has to be a dialogue first. Sometimes there isn't time”
“It is a joint decision of the president and the parliament and a dialogue that has been interrupted all the time by all kinds of other events. It will happen relatively soon,” the head of state said.
He explained that so far, in the last nine months, Romania has sent a signal of stability, and a proposal of heads of services to be rejected by the Parliament “is not a sign of stability at all”.
“That is precisely why there must be a dialogue before, the dialogue must have its nuances of depth. Sometimes there is time, sometimes there is no time. For example, this week there is no time. That we are preparing the visit (ed. – the visit to Washington to participate in the first meeting of the Peace Council), he continued.
“Everything that has appeared in the public space is speculation”
The president was also asked if there have been proposals from the parties for these appointments so far. He said that while “it's obvious that everyone wants to propose”, there has been no suggestion from the parties and that the discussion with the leaders is more about the profile of the people to run the intelligence services.
“Obviously, they must be mature people, who have worked with many people throughout their lives, be able to lead structures of many people, have the necessary direction and flexibility in certain situations. They are positions of responsibility”, was the characterization of Nicușor Dan when he was asked about what qualities the future directors of SRI and SIE should have.
“Everything that has appeared in the public space is speculation,” he added, referring to the names that have appeared in the media so far.
Among the names circulated so far is that of the lawyer Gabriel Zbârcea for the conditioning of the SRI and of Marius Lazurca for the head of the SIE.
Both are childhood acquaintances of the current president. Lazurca was a fellow student with Nicușor Dan in Paris, 32 years ago, and they kept in touch afterwards. Since then, Lazurca was appointed by Nicușor Dan as adviser for national security and foreign policy in Cotroceni.
About Zbârcea, Nicușor Dan explained in an interview for Cotidianul that he met him in the early 90s at the Student League of the University of Bucharest, a well-known civic organization at the time.
