The prime minister was panned not only by Romanian politicians, but also by the EPP President, Joseph Daul.
PM Victor Ponta made an unfortunate comparison on Sunday evening, in a TV intervention, between the consequences of President Traian Basescu’s mandate on the Romanian society and those of the Nazi regime, proclaimed by Hitler between 1933 and 1945. “I think the impact on the Romanian society left by 10 years of Basescu regime is quite similar to that left by the Nazi regime in Germany. There will be a period of time in which we simply have to prepare for the de-Basescu of the Romanian society,” said the Premier.
“I want to see if I correctly understand what Victor Ponta means when speaking of dismantling the Basescu regime. Probably he means going through the crisis fast, with costs for the population, which I regret, and return to economic growth. He probably means the act of condemning communism which I did in all sincerity. Maybe such an attitude must be dismantled. He might mean that (…) I gave instructions and the Archives of the former Securitate (communist-era secret police – editor’s note) have been fully given to the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives and it was from there that we learned how Victor Ponta’s friend, Felix (the Securitate name of Conservative Party founding president Dan Voiculescu, currently in prison for corruption – editor’s note) was an informant who used to inform on his family. Maybe by dismantling the Basescu regime he means accusing me of having handed over Dunarea archives (involving Voiculescu – editor’s note) to the National Council and to the State Archives,” was president Basescu’s reaction, stressing that such remarks cause serious damages to the Romanian state and the credibility of Romania. “It is a statement that causes serious damages to the Romanian state and the credibility of Romania, being made by a prime minister and I want you to know why exactly I protest,” Basescu said on Monday at the presidential Cotroceni Palace. The president added that the prime minister might mean by dismantling the Basescu regime that he had opened the access to the State Archives and this resulted in finding out who the communist prison torturers were or the fact he signed the EU Accession Treaty on behalf of the Romanian state in April 2005 or that the judicial system has begun functioning during his term. “Maybe by dismantling the Basescu regime he means that I am guilty of the sentences received by the Social Democrat (PSD, headed by Ponta – editor’s note) barons, of the ten-year sentence received by Voiculescu and others. Maybe the sentence received by (Sorin Ovidiu) Vantu must be dismantled, according to the prime minister, or else it is something resembling Nazism. Maybe also resembling the Nazi system and a thing that must be dismantled as being the Basescu regime is the fact that I signed the Strategic Partnership for the 21st century with the United States. Maybe the fact that I, during my term, have constantly made the efforts to strengthen Romania’s position in NATO and the EU and this, in Ponta’s mind, must be dismantled since it resembles the Nazi regime. Maybe the fact that Romania has re-gained control of 10,000 square kilometers of Black Sea economic area, where we probably have natural gas and oil is also an action that must be dismantled as being of the Basescu regime, since as you can see now, the brothers from Novorossyia are getting closer to the area and they, not Romania could have benefited from it,” Basescu added.
He stressed he still has a long list by which he should translate the prime minister “the similarities” between the Basescu regime and the Nazi regime.
President Basescu was not the only one to react to PM Ponta’s accuses, National Liberal Party Chair and presidential candidate Klaus Iohannis qualifying as “inadmissible” Prime Ponta’s statement. Speaking on Monday at the Realitatea TV station, Iohannis said that the PM should publicly apologize if his assertion was a mistake. “The declaration made by Ponta comparing the past ten years in Romania with a very unfortunate period in Germany’s history is utterly inadmissible. In any other European country, a politician making such a statement would have had to step down the next day. It is inadmissible to use the horrors of Nazism in a comparison with the evolutions in 21st century Romania. It’s beyond imagination that a politician nowadays could express himself this way; it’s a gross insult for all those who suffered under the Nazi dictatorship. It’s an insult for Romanians, and obviously an insult for those who voted in the latest elections,” Iohannis asserted.
EPP leader slams Ponta
“The allegations made on Sunday by Victor Ponta are outrageous. It is really outrageous to hear the Prime Minister of a EU member state comparing the president of its own country with the Nazis,”said Joseph Daul (photo), Chairman of the EPP.
Also, the new British ambassador to Bucharest, Paul Brummell, commented yesterday the accuses of Nazism made ??by PM Ponta, saying that “Hitler was Hitler” and fortunately in today’s European politics he doesn’t see another Hitler.
Another vehement reaction was that made by the Jewish community in Romania: “I express my total disappointment and firm conviction that this is a huge and unacceptable political mistake,” said MP Aurel Vainer, the community’s leader. The PM replied yesterday saying that he went to the minorities’ group in order to have a clarification with Vainer regarding his statement. He further said that Vainer was being miled by a propaganda in the media,” a spus Ponta.
How will this statement made by the Prime Minister in the context in which he is the left’s candidate to the presidential elections this fall? Political analyst Radu Magdin told “Adevarul” daily that although unfortunate, the assertion may mobilize a few hesitant electors to come to the polls. “I think the audience to whom he addressed could believe such thing, for they are among those who suffered from austerity. In this context, it is possible that this statement to mobilize some undecided voters,” said Magdin.
