Former Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta who’s running for president in next month’s election is under fire after he admitted he allowed Romanian villages to be flooded to save the Serbian capital. Belgrade.
In 2014, when he was Prime Minister and Serbia was hit by severe floods, Mr. Ponta ordered that the Iron Gates dams be opened, allowing Romanian villages on the north bank of the Danube to be inundated, but Belgrade to be spared.
Ponta said he deliberately concealed his action from the media at the time, and following his initiative, he was granted Serbian citizenship.
“It’s something I will be proud of all my life, ” he said in an interview.
Following the revelation, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu called on Ponta to withdraw from the presidential race, while Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu criticized him and accused him of making up a story to cover up the real reason he hid his double citizenship, suggesting he was a Serbian agent. Crin Antonescu who’s also running for president in the May 4 election accused of Ponta of betraying Romania.
Ponta is running for president on the slogan “Romania First.”
Here is the exchange between Victor Ponta and journalist Robert Turcescu:
Robert Turcescu: But why did you get Serbian citizenship?
Victor Ponta: They gave it to me because I helped them with an extraordinary thing, which I will write about in my memoirs. During the floods, I gave orders bypassing the Romanian structures to open the Iron Gates…. In this way Belgrade was not flooded. Only a suburb was flooded. But if we hadn’t opened the Iron Gates, Belgrade would have been flooded.
Robert Turcescu: So why didn’t our people want to open it?
Victor Ponta: Because the Romanian side would have been flooded. And it was flooded.
But I spoke with the Emergency Situations Inspectorate, we relocated people, we compensated quickly. You, the press didn’t find out anything.
Robert Turcescu: And did you think it’s better to flood some Romanians than to flood some Serbians?
Victor Ponta: Robert, I called them at midnight, it was a Friday night, I summoned them all to the Government. At 5am in the morning, there were gendarmes, Emergency Situations Inspectorate, everyone in the Romanian villages along the clifftop. I think we flooded (Romanian dissident and poet Mircea) Dinescu… But I compensated him. Rest assured I compensated him more than his winery at the Citadel was worth.
Come on, it’s Belgrade! It’s Belgrade where Iancu de Hunedoara defeated Mehmed the Conqueror! How can I say: ‘Yeah, flood Belgrade to save Dinescu’s citadel? Dinescu’s winery?!’. Forget it, the winery has been rebuilt, it’s very good. That’s how it was.
„They gave me Serbian citizenship because I did something extraordinary for them,” he said.
The President didn’t grant me citizenship. It was the Parliament that voted. It was an honorary citizenship, I was there at the same time as (US actor) Steven Seagal. The two of us received citizenship at that time. I was thinking of not being involved in politics anymore. I like Belgrade and I really like Serbia.
Robert Turcescu: And to be able to take the oath as president, you have to renounce Serbian citizenship.
Victor Ponta: Yes, I submitted the request two weeks ago. I have to go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Serbia to sign there.
Following the interview, Ponta said on Facebook: “Nothing and no one can intimidate or stop me on my path now…I will continue to present serious projects to Romanians to get us out of the current crisis, to restore their dignity and security for the future!
He said that in 2014, Europe was facing massive floods. “Fortunately, in Romania, we took the necessary measures alongside specialists, and no Romanian’s life was in danger. Minimal material damages were immediately repaired, and compensations were provided. At the same time, Romania, as a good neighbor, helped countries in danger.”
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