Daniel Barbu (photo), senator of the Liberals’ and Democrats’ Alliance (ALDE), claimed on Friday that being a politician is “the most difficult” job, which is “more risky than the mission of a soldier in Afghanistan”, because people’s representatives are risking their freedom and health every day.
“You have chosen a difficult job. It’s the most difficult job. Sometimes, it’s even more difficult than the jobs we consider t be very dangerous, like being a miner. (…) Being a politician is a difficult job and very few people actually know what you really do each day of the week, often on Saturdays and Sundays. It’s a hard job in our days, because it’s a risky job. It’s more risky than the mission of a soldier in Afghanistan”, stated the senator at the ALDE Local Representatives’ League.
He stated that public space has become “some kind of a scene of operations” where politicians are risking their freedom and health.
“We know well that, unfortunately, public space has become some kind of a scene of operations where each local or national representative is risking his freedom and health every day, and this is not only in Romania, but here it happens in an extremely violent manner”, Daniel Barbu concluded.
His uninspired statement has immediately triggered a wave of reactions in the public space.
A former MApN officer sent a tough message to Daniel Barbu: Your glasses should be crushed by the dusty boot of a soldier
A former officer in the National Defense Ministry (MApN) posted a tough message on Facebook, addressed to Daniel Barbu, asserting that the politician’s glasses should be crushed by the dusty boot of a soldier, after the politician said that being a politician is more risky than the mission of a soldier in Afghanistan.
“I have participated in 3 missions in Afg (Afghanistan – e.n.), Mr. Daniel Barbu. Do you know what’s in those metal chests that returned from Afghanistan? They’re not bribes or fees circulating in your entourages, they are bodies of soldiers who went in Afg for a daily allowance of 40 percent of the daily allowance of a politician. Your glasses should be crushed by the dusty boot of a politician (preferably when you wear them on your nose)”, wrote Florin Paul Valea, former MApN officer, on Facebook.
Raetchi: Barbu should apologize to the Army and to the families of the soldiers who died in Afghanistan
Liberal MP Ovidiu Raetchi asked on Friday to the senator Daniel Barbu to apologize to the Army and to the families of the soldiers who died in Afghanistan, for his statements according to which being politician is more risky than the mission of a soldier in Afghanistan.
“As an MP of the Romanians in the Middle East – which quality also involves representing the soldiers in Afghanistan -, a have to penalize the scandalous statement of the senator Daniel Barbu, who compares the risks assumed by a politician to those to our soldiers are exposed in the scenes of operations, considering them higher. (…) Barbu should urgently apologize to the Romanian Army and to the families of the soldiers who gave their lives in Afghanistan”, stated the Liberal MP Ovidiu Raetchi, according t a press release sent to Mediafax.
He stated that politicians’ victimization should have a limit in “the respect for the soldiers who risk their lives away from the country, for a more secure world and Europe”.
“Romanian soldiers in Afghanistan really did pay a hard price of blood, losing their lives or being injured under the flag”, the Liberal underlined.
Raetchi added that the lack of empathy towards the dangers the Romanian soldiers are exposed to, every day, in the war theaters, to honor the commitments assumed by Romania, is hard to understand.
Barbu does not apologize for the statements related to being a politician: Why should I be sorry?
ALDE senator Daniel Barbu doesn’t apologize for his statements on Friday, according to which being a politician is “the most difficult” job, a “more risky job than the mission of a soldier in Afghanistan”, invoking the recent statements of the Pope Francis about journalism in his support.
“I said it’s equally risky. Why should I be sorry? I don’t understand. It’s a difficult and risky job everywhere in the world. Pope Francis said yesterday (on Friday – e.n.) that news sources are a form of terrorism. Therefore, consider that politicians are, in general, judged relying on news sources. So it is a risky job”, Daniel Barbu stated on Saturday for Mediafax.
He gave the example of Lia Olguta Vasilescu, the PSD mayor of the Craiova Municipality.
“She was doing her job as a mayor, and suddenly she was arrested. Doesn’t it seem a risk to you?! I mean I don’t understand this debate. I said an ordinary thing, other politicians said it hundreds of times before me. I really don’t understand. I didn’t say ‘life’, I wasn’t cited correctly. I sad: of course he/she doesn’t put his/her life in danger, but freedom, health. (…) Obviously he/she doesn’t lose his/her life, I said it. My assertions, because they were not statements, were addressed to the 1,500 local representatives ad I wanted to encourage them, to tell them that they have chosen a difficult job and I congratulate them for this thing, that everybody is hunting politicians, that they are corrupted, thieves, the most despicable people, that everybody is wonderful in this country, excepting politicians. My statement was extremely well calibrated, I said ‘sometimes, it’s equally dangerous as the mission of a soldier in Afghanistan, because they don’t risk their lives, but the health, the freedom’”, the ALDE senator added.
