Fact-Cechecking at the presidential debate from Digi24. Where the presidential candidates were wrong
Crin Antonescu, Nicușor Dan and Elena Lasconi, at the electoral debate from the Cotroceni Palace, organized by Digi24 Photo: Inquam Photos / Octav Ganea
The site that deals with fact-checketing factual showed that in the first two hours of presidential debate at Digi24, Elena Lasconi and Crin Antonescu made two false statements.
The first presidential debate was held between three candidates – Crin Antonescu, Nicușor Dan and Elena Lasconi, although initially five had confirmed the participation. Victor Ponta announced today, a few hours before the start of the debate that he no longer participates, while George Simion came to the debate, but left immediately after being presented.
The debate is scheduled to last three hours, until 23.00. So far, the factual site has identified two fake statements.
1. Elena Lasconi and Protests of 2012
In an interpellation addressed to Crin Antonescu, Elena Lasconi said she went out in 2012, when the USL alliance, the first PNL coalition with PSD was formed.
“I went out because of you. In 2012 you have trampled the rule of law. You have horrified European leaders! How can you guarantee that you will fight for the rule of law in Romania?”, Asked Lasconi.
The team from factual explains that in 2012 there were protests in Romania against the Government led by Emil Boc and the sanitary reforms since then. The main dissatisfaction was that the money from the health insurance would have been given in the private system. Boc asked for Raed Arafat's resignation from the position of Secretary of State in the Ministry of Health. Following the protests, Raed Arafat remained in the post, and Emil Boc resigned from the position of prime minister.
“Basically, USL was the beneficiary of the protests in 2012, not their generator,” concluded factually.
2. Antonescu, called to the Prosecutor's Office
Mayor General Nicușor Dan accused Crin Antonescu that, as Minister of Youth and Sport, he approved the transfer of land in Bucharest who then arrived in the hands of real estate developer. Dan listed several lands that were part of these transfers, then showed Antonescu some documents to confirm his accusations.
In reply, Crin Antonescu claimed that “I have never been informed, it is 20 years since then, that a prosecutor is investigating my activity to intervene. I have never been accused, I have never been called to the Prosecutor's Office.”
In fact, he catalogs the statement as false, because, in 2014, Crin Antonescu was heard at the General Prosecutor's Office following a complaint made by the People's Movement Foundation.
Following the hearings he said that: “I went to the General Prosecutor's Office for a simple formality, in the sense that somewhere in 2014, I do not know when in fact, that I did not even know about it, the Folk Movement Foundation filed a complaint against Ponta, mine-I do not know who, for some nonsense.”
Two years later, he and his wife were also heard by DNA prosecutors following a complaint made by Alina Petre, the former cloud of Virgil Măgureanu, the first head of the SRI.
“Thus, Crin Antonescu was heard by prosecutors in at least two files. So he was called to the Prosecutor's Office,” is the conclusion offered by the fact-returning site.
