Traian Băsescu, sharp message addressed to Nicușor Dan: “I would not give up this right of the president”
Traian Băsescu Photo: Inquam Photos / Adriana Neagoe
Former president Traian Băsescu said on Thursday evening to Euronews that the current head of state, Nicușor Dan, should not make “concessions” to the parties regarding the appointment of the next directors of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE).
“The president should not make concessions. After all, the law, and in the case of the services, and the Constitution say that the president also appoints the heads of the two services, he also appoints the prosecutors, that's in the law. I don't see the reason why the president would give in and no longer exercise these prerogatives”, stated Traian Băsescu.
Asked how consensus is obtained for the appointment of the SRI director, for example, considering that the current president does not have a party behind him to support him, Băsescu replied: “They simply nominate him, send him to Parliament. If he passes, fine. If not, he has enough generals at SRI with whom to make the institution go.”
“Romania did not collapse” without a civilian director at the SRI, added the former president.
“So I would not cede this right of the president”, Traian Băsescu emphasized.
What Nicușor Dan said
Also on Thursday evening, on Digi24, in his first interview this year, Nicușor Dan stated that he hopes to end “very soon” the discussions related to the appointments at the head of the two services.
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“I will propose and the Parliament will approve. We will have a discussion beforehand related to the names that appeared in the public space. Know that many of those who are there are very unhappy that their names appeared, because they are, let's say, friends of theirs from politics and who made their names appear and somehow because of this the chances or at least theoretical chances of appointment decrease”, said Nicușor Dan, quoted by Agerpres.
He stated that this topic was also “partially” addressed in the discussions held this week with the coalition leaders.
The future directors of SRI and SIE “must be balanced people, with human and professional maturity, who have interacted with many environments over time”, added the president.
Nicușor Dan: I hope to finish the discussions for the head of the intelligence services very soon. What does it say about the names circulated
