A scandal like the „emperor’s palace” should definitively discredit and remove from politics all those who played a role in this huge abuse. Without trying to prioritize, there are at least four unacceptable issues in this case.
1. The colossal sum invested in renovating the villa intended for Klaus Iohannis. So far, Marcel Ciolacu says that around 3 million euros have been spent, and RA-APPS has presented an estimate, we understand by stage, for 14 million lei.
6.4 million lei were reimbursed only for architectural works. According to an architect with experience in the profession and an important portfolio of works, such a sum is received by an architecture firm, for example, for approximately 10 blocks.
The works on electrical, plumbing, heating, Internet, and TV installations have cost, so far, 3.2 million lei. Nearly a million would have been spent on consolidation and increasing the load-bearing capacity of the building.
Recorder, the first publication to speak about this delirium of grandeur, described the luxury hidden behind technical terms and which is expected to cost, in the end, 7 million euros.
There is no decent, acceptable justification for so much public money to be invested in the whims of a single individual, especially one who is ending his term on his knees, in unprecedented public hatred and contempt for the arrogance and inefficiency that have characterized him in these 10 years.
2. The secrecy of the expenditure and the destination of the property. It shows that the decision-makers of this shameless investment knew exactly how scandalous their actions were. Indeed, this modus operandi is not new. Secrecy has become a common and very convenient practice.
The same happened with the cost of the president's travels, which did not prevent the prime minister from once again filling the public money piggy bank for vacations at the budget revision.
3. Non-acknowledgment. The scandal is now, in the middle of the campaign, like a hot potato, with those involved trying to pass it on as far as possible.
It is obvious that all of them knew and agreed to indulge the president in this whim, just as they were ready to offer him, in good understanding, a senatorial mandate through a dedicated law.
Nicolae Ciucă was the prime minister, the secretary-general of the Government under which RA-APPS falls was Marian Neacșu, closest to Marcel Ciolacu, and the Minister of Finance was also a Social Democrat, Mr. Câciu.
Is it credible that Mr. Ciucă or Mr. Ciolacu had no idea about the government decision establishing the destination of the palace on Aviatorilor Boulevard and the money invested by RA-APPS?
What ruined the plan, as I said: the people's anger, who, despite the secrecy, found out, and Klaus Iohannis became too high of an electoral cost to be assumed anymore.
4. The lie. Once Recorder's revelation brought to light the preparation of the palace, the statesmen aspiring to be the country's presidents took refuge in lies. It's not just about non-acknowledgment, it's downright about deceit.
Mr. Ciucă, the main signatory of the government decision, denied until the document was declassified that he made such a decision. Military honor?
All these are more than just specific issues. Especially since they involve actions, attitudes, choices in the exercise of high public offices, they are symptomatic of the profile of politicians and how they will behave in future mandates.
But ultimately, these things are possible because the electorate has mild reactions when challenged, when their money is stolen. Even in Klaus Iohannis' case, it took 10 years of continuous and often qualified defiance for the people to have had enough. If he had been a bit more likable, communicative, if he had shown a bit of empathy, the people would have been willing to finance his palace through a referendum.
Real reform, profound changes require significant popular pressure to move beyond the phase of populist statements. If that pressure is absent, nothing changes.