Prime minister is accused of trying to ‘usurp the powers of the president.’
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu is under fire after his personal envoy to the United States appeared to publicly tell Washington to ignore Bucharest’s pro-Ukraine and pro-Europe position.
Mr. Ciolacu recently sent an envoy to the United States to meet with members of Donald Trump’s administration to ‘facilitate relations with Trump.” The businessman who contributed to Trump’s campaign and is a member of the Republican Party has no diplomatic experience and was acting as Ciolacu’s personal envoy.
„There is no official mandate, I was just asked to intermediate certain discussions to open some communication paths. There is no written document and I don’t have a directive from the Romanian government,” Dragos Sprînceană, a Romanian-US businessman told Digi 24 on Sunday.
Asked what he had told Republican leaders in the US, Sprînceană said:
“The American administration must understand, ignore Romania’s messages, pro-Ukraine and pro-France a little bit, because we have an interim president (Eds: Ilie Bolojan) who will no longer matter in a month, a month and a half.”
Romania’s president is in charge of foreign policy and Bolojan has reaffirmed Romania’s commitment to Ukraine and the European Union. He will leave the post after May presidential elections.
The original election was canceled last year after a Russia-friendly conspiracy theorist Calin Georgescu unexpectedly won the election and intelligence reports alleged massive interference from Russia. Moscow denies meddling.
Former President Traian Basescu accused the prime minister of “practically usurping the powers of the president. The relationship with other states .. is maintained by the president of the country and ambassadors are sent by the president, not by the prime minister,” he told B1 TV.
“The fact that (Ciolacu) nominated some envoys it is not very clear why, but he nominated them, he simply puts Romania in an embarrassing situation.”
Romania’s Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu met the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday and had talks on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member states in Brussels, facts that Sprînceană appeared to ignore.
“We have to wait to have a new president. We must wait to have a stable administration in Romania and to resume bilateral communication, economic and political and strategic ties after these elections,” Sprînceană, a 45-year-old businessman told Digi24.
Sprînceană supported Georgescu, winner of the contested first round of presidential elections and was opposed to the cancellation of the November elections last year.
The maneuver to send an envoy to the U.S. is also seen as an attempt by the prime minister to align himself with Europe-skeptic nationalists forces ahead of the presidential election and keep his job if a nationalist wins the re-do in May.
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