Sergiu Moroianu, Clotilde Armand’s husband, has accused Save Romania Union’s (USR) PR/campaign team of “associating USR’s image with LGBT activists and Soros.” In reply, Nicusor Dan stated Moroianu is lying publicly, many of the lies being similar to those put forth by USR’s opponents.
“Dear colleagues, the elections have passed. In Bucharest, we scored less than we did in the local elections. Our year-long effort has resulted in half the score registered by the PPDD pocket party in 2012! Abuses and mistakes were made by the “PR/campaign team” coordinated by Matei Paun. Having initially joined USB as a volunteer, Paun will now be paid a consistent sum. Does anyone know the financial data on Paun’s services? The Arbitration Commission repeatedly asked Matei Paun and his team to file their USR supporter cards,” Sergiu Moroianu, Clotilde Armand’s husband, wrote on Facebook.
He added that Paun verbally agreed to do so in what concerns himself but refused to reveal even the names of the members of his “team.”
“In fact, Paun hasn’t filed his supporter card. Another member of Paun’s team is Mihai Politeanu, whom Alina Mungiu-Pippidi described as her former personal driver and who subsequently worked for Monica Macovei and who is currently head of the ‘Initiative Romania’ NGO. Politeanu left the group of USR volunteers the moment he was asked for the supporter card. Subsequently, he was secretly brought back by Paun. Matei Paun is a controversial character. We don’t know where he worked and for whom, what his wealth and sources of income are, not even what his citizenship is. Paun is backed within USR by Roxana Wring, who is close to the NGOs that are part of Soros’s network. Wring first brought Politeanu in the organisation too,” Sergiu Moroianu added.
He pointed out that during the elections campaign Paun started a campaign to denigrate and sabotage Clotilde Armand, “USR’s main PR vector at local level.”
“Paun associated USR’s image with LGBT activists and Soros, even trying to exonerate Soros instead of us vigorously distancing ourselves from him, a pathetic attempt that took PSD to 50 percent in Parliament and USR to below 10 percent. I am asking the USR national bureau for explanations as to why this situation was tolerated, a situation in which a person foreign to our party attacked and isolated the party’s number 2 person, orchestrated campaigns against USR’s interests, spent USR money in a discretionary and non-transparent manner, ultimately seriously damaging USR’s chances of success,” Moroianu added.
In reply, USR President Nicusor Dan wrote on Facebook that Matei Paun worked as a volunteer, “sacrificing his personal time, without asking for anything in return, both in the local elections campaign as well as in the parliamentary elections campaign.”
“He worked based on a mandate offered by the National Bureau, one he never exceeded. He had my and the National Bureau’s support throughout the elections campaign. I’m sad and astonished that Sergiu Moroianu is making lying statements in the public space, many of them similar to those made by USR’s political enemies,” Nicusor Dan concluded.
Mihai Politeanu also reacted, sarcastically.
“It’s amusing to see all kinds of neo-Nazis, nuts or fascist Free Dacians unmasking you as a follower of Soros or Macovei, Basescu or Iohannis. After Ciutacu, Pippidi and Ghita, today the day has come for Sergiu Moroianu to defend the country from conspiracies too,” Politeanu wrote on his Facebook account.
Clotilde Armand (photo) was not part of the USR delegation that showed up at the Cotroceni Palace on Wednesday to take part in consultations with President Klaus Iohannis.
USR to act responsibly and not stir people to start street protests
The Save Romania Union (USR) announced on Wednesday, that its representative in Alba county, Christian Schuster, expressed a personal opinion that does not reflect the party’s position, when he declared that a designation of the Social Democrat leader, Liviu Dragnea, as Prime Minister, could generate street movements, including from USR structures.
“The opinion of Mr. Christian Schuster is personal and does not reflect, either USR’s position, or the way in which USR intends to act as a party elected in Parliament. USR will resort to institutional means to oppose the designation of Liviu Dragnea, the criminally convicted chairman of the Social Democrat Party (PSD), for the position of Prime Minister, a fact that we consider noxious for Romania and about which we warned it could lead to the international isolation of the country. The Union acts as a responsible parliamentary party and will not stir people into starting street protests. We consider that Romanians have proved, on a number of occasions, that they can mobilize when they consider the public interest to be affected, without the implication or the call of political parties,” informed USR, through a press release.
The USR candidate at the top of the list for the Chamber of Deputies in Alba, Christian Schuster, declared on Tuesday, that he would have preferred PSD to designate for the position of Prime Minister a person other than Liviu Dragnea, stating that street movements could take place otherwise.
“We will never support such a nomination or designation as Prime Minister of Romania. There will be massive street movements from USR but also from the civil society non-attached politically, if something like that should happen. I believe PSD should ponder whether they want to throw the country in such a social battle in full winter or if they are going to wait a little for things to cool down after such tumultuous elections,” Christian Schuster said.
Subsequently, the USR representative mentioned that he expressed a personal opinion, that cannot be considered an instigation to violence.
