Accused of “forgetting” to resign, the head of the Authority for the Digitization of Romania was fired. Who took over

Aurel-Cătălin Giulescu was appointed as president of the Authority for the Digitization of Romania (ADR), with the rank of secretary of state, by a decision of Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, published in the Official Gazette, according to Agerpres.

Giulescu replaced Dragoș Cristian Vlad, appointed in this capacity in 2022, by the prime minister at the time, Nicolae Ciucă.

And the decision to release Vlad from the headship of ADR was published in the Official Gazette.

The decision comes shortly after liberal deputy Octavian Oprea asked Dragoș Cristian Vlad “to submit his honorable resignation immediately”.

“The heads of the agencies remained well anchored in their positions, and one of the clearest examples is Dragoș Cristian Vlad, the president of the Authority for the Digitization of Romania, supported by the PSD for occupying this position of public dignity,” the PNL deputy said, accusing the PSD of “lying as it breathes”, after the party led by Sorin Grindeanu had announced that all people appointed by the social democrats had left the administrative apparatus.

In the year Vlad was appointed, G4Media.ro wrote that he is considered “close to the Sebastian Ghiţă – Rovana Plumb group”.

The PSD leader at the time, Marcel Ciolacu, claimed that Vlad had a CV recommending him for the post of head of ADR. He also stated that Vlad does not know Sebastian Ghiţă personally, according to News.ro.

Who is Aurel-Cătălin Giulescu, the new head of ADR

Aurel-Cătălin Giulescu was a state adviser in the own working apparatus of the deputy prime minister Oana-Clara Gheorghiu, a position in which he was appointed in April. He was released from this position with the appointment at the head of ADR.

Cătălin Aurel Giulescu is a police quaestor and headed the General Directorate for the Records of Persons.

The proposal for the dismissal of the old head and the appointment of Giulesescu was made by the Minister of Economy, Digitalization, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, Irineu Darău, and the Deputy Prime Minister Oana Gheorghiu, the USR senator announced.

“Finally: RESET to the Authority for the Digitization of Romania! We asked the Prime Minister, together with Deputy Prime Minister Oana Gheorghiu, to dismiss the President of ADR. And this really necessary change has just happened. We can no longer continue with the handbrake pulled on Romania's digitalization! For too long, instead of moving forward, we have been stalling more and more, and the effect can be seen in concrete, day-to-day things that people feel directly,” he wrote But in a message on Facebook.

The Minister of Economy accuses “failures in the chain”

He listed “failures in the chain” of ADR that “must have consequences”, referring including to the syncopes at Ghiseul.ro and SEAP.

“When you lose in court the funding for specialists working on the Government Cloud and you have no alternative plan, we are talking about disastrous financial management. When you launch platforms with major errors, difficult to use for citizens or try to start large purchases without a legal basis, we are talking about failed projects and decisions made outside the rules. When you induce the idea that tens of millions of euros were “lost”, although in reality it was about savings, in fact, you create confusion and mistrust. When you refuse to provide data to the coordinating ministry, you create an environment in which subordinates refuse monitoring and issue regulations ignoring the rules, we are talking about insubordination and lack of transparency”, indicated the Minister of Economy.

He emphasized the need to accelerate digital transformation.

“In the last months, we tried to correct on the fly as much as we could, from the liberalization of the electronic signature to the attempt to stop some dubious auctions and acquisitions, but it is clear that it is not enough. A reset at the management level and a real and functional acceleration of the digital transformation in Romania were needed like air. Equally important is that we must definitively shut down any toxic influence that has kept Romania's digitalization in place for far too many years. Romania must get rid of the shadow of Sebastian Ghiţă that hovered over institutions and digitalization for too long,” Darău said.

The Authority for the Digitization of Romania has the role of realizing and coordinating the implementation of strategies and public policies in the field of digital transformation and the information society.