The Minister of Defense, Ionuț Moșteanu (USR), published on Thursday on Facebook his bachelor’s degree from Bioterra University – Faculty of Agrotourism Engineering and Management, after in an old CV posted on TAROM company’s website, he had written that he graduated from Athenaeum University in Bucharest.
The minister states that it is „a mistake that he acknowledges embarrasses him.” „I didn’t pay too much attention to these details at that time. For this, I apologize,” adds the minister.
"To clarify the discussions that have arisen in the public space about my studies, I am posting my bachelor's degree here to clarify things. I am not hiding, I have worked for every stage of my life, both in private and in politics. No one handed me a cozy position, and I have no political debts. My career has been built through hard work," writes the Minister of Defense, Ionuț Moșteanu, on Facebook.
He briefly presents the story of his studies: "I entered 45th place in Automatics in 1992. In the second year, I started working to support myself, and I did not finish. I started a new faculty, but at that time, it was not a priority for me to get my bachelor's degree, I never needed the diploma in private jobs and entrepreneurship. I continued to learn every day and still do. I completed my studies in 2015 with the bachelor's exam and obtained the diploma at Bioterra, Faculty of Agrotourism Engineering and Management, Profile - economic engineering, Specialty - managerial engineering."
The Minister of Defense also mentions that he worked for 20 years in Romanian and multinational companies, had his own business, and continuously learned how to do things better and keep his eyes on the goal.
"In December 2015, I joined the technocratic government as a minister's advisor to help. The salary at that time was just over 2,000 lei. Since then, my life has been public. In 2017, in the first year of politics, Valeriu Nicolae helped some of us new politicians from USR to understand more and faster political philosophy concepts, to discuss concepts such as state, government, freedom, justice, law, and rights. The desire to understand more encouraged me to pursue a master's degree in PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) in English at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Bucharest. I postponed my dissertation," Moșteanu further wrote.
Regarding the accusations against him, that he falsified his CV, Ionuț Moșteanu specifies: "In a CV made in a hurry in 2016 on a template from the internet, a mistake remained that I acknowledge embarrasses me. I didn't pay too much attention to these details at that time. For this, I apologize. In 30 years of work, I have proven hard work, teamwork, good collegial relationships, quick adaptation, and bold decisions for the greater good. All of these have been for almost 9 years in the service of the state, and I will use them every day."
The minister's response comes after Libertatea reported that Minister Ionuț Moșteanu posted in the first official CV, on TAROM company's website during his time at the Ministry of Transport, a lie. Under the Education section, he listed Athenaeum University, which he claimed to have attended between 1996-2000.
Additionally, the document specifies that the current head of the Ministry of National Defense allegedly graduated in Management at this higher education institution.
As indicated in this CV, the diploma from Athenaeum was the only university degree Moșteanu held at that time.
In a response to the newspaper, Athenaeum University denies that Moșteanu was ever a student there.