For a long time, I have been convinced that RA-APPS (Autonomous Administration of the State Protocol Patrimony) is, in fact, a state within a state. It is actually a bureaucratic mechanism detached from any authority, functioning as an autonomous entity that no longer answers to anyone.
The affair with the small palace built for Iohannis, the one with the villa rented to EximBank through an intermediary, and the almost one million euro proposed allowance for Marius Grăjdan, the agency’s director (later denied and labeled as a „material error”), are just a few examples that have come to light from the labyrinth of a public agency that has become a state within a state.
Juggling with publicly owned housing, distributed to dignitaries according to an algorithm more complex than Google's, funding maintenance works, often overvalued, and the lack of any report regarding the portfolio of buildings, their management, and maintenance, have turned RA-APPS into a corruption-generating black hole that no authority dares to approach.
Director Marius Grăjdan and his team not only lack any public communication about the agency's affairs, but have also created a defense and deterrent system against any attempt from the government to unravel the tangle of interests and corruption surrounding the agency.
Shortly after the news about the one million euro allowance for the head of RA-APPS surfaced, a response came: information sent to the press stating that Mihai Jurcă, Prime Minister Bolojan's right-hand man, received a 135-square-meter apartment from RA-APPS.
I have an apartment from RA-APPS which is on the ground floor of a house. It has two rooms - a living room and a bedroom. But to be very clear, it is an apartment I requested near my workplace. I can walk to the Government in 15 minutes.
Mihai Jurca, Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Bolojan, in response to the information that he benefits from RA-APPS services
The Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister lives in Oradea and was brought to Bucharest by Ilie Bolojan as a trusted individual; they have worked together for a long time to help implement the promised institutional reform measures.
The information about the apartment was intended to provoke negative reactions among the public, showing that even Bolojan's associates are drawn to the honey pot of RA-APPS.
"...it is an apartment I requested near my workplace. I can walk to the Government in 15 minutes. If this is the property provided by RA-APPS, I accepted it. I live alone. A smaller area would be sufficient...", stated Mihai Jurca, in an interview with Digi24.
A Toxic Dance
The reaction to measures to reduce public spending coming from an agency involved in a series of scandals shows how the battle between budget nobility and the new government will unfold.
It will be a tough, bare-knuckle confrontation where any crack will be exploited. Bolojan will face all kinds of traps, subtle and invisible pressure, punctuated with low blows.
In the coming months, we will witness an epic confrontation between reformers and privileged figures in the public sector, a confrontation that will transcend party lines, with the goal of halting the diversion of public funds.
Autonomous entities have been created, receiving money from the government, but also building networks of protection and influence through which they have escaped the Executive's authority. The political elite formed after 1989 has devised ways to access taxpayers' money, channeled through opaque systems and then parked in private pockets and accounts.
RA-APPS is just one example, but around the budget, a constellation of obscure agencies, associations, and institutes has emerged in the last three decades, receiving funds without anyone knowing of their existence, devoid of any public utility, and not accountable to anyone.
It must be emphasized that this parallel system has not benefited only one party or another, but every political party in power has joined the toxic dance, draining millions and millions of euros from taxpayers year after year.