Gabriel Liiceanu has recently brought up the serious issue of corruption in his public interventions, which still deeply affects Romania.
„…for the past 30 years, corruption and theft have reached these fabulous levels, with €18 billion stolen annually in Romania, to which is added an equal amount due to the institutions’ inability to collect taxes,” stated Gabriel Liiceanu in an interview with Spotmedia.ro, conducted by Magda Grădinaru.
He is trying to draw attention to the fact that Romanian society is suffering again because the state law enforcement institutions are no longer functioning.
The new leadership of the DNA has failed to instill trust in society that the rules are being respected and privileges are limited.
In reality, the opposite is happening; most people believe that the level of corruption is as widespread as it was a decade ago when Klaus Iohannis became the President of Romania.
The Ciolacu - Ciucă Equation
After Laura Codruța Kovesi left the DNA, a huge void remained. The current president does not acknowledge this, but public perception is that we have returned to the beginning of the millennium when Aunt Tamara was at her peak.
Romania faces a significant political test with upcoming local, European parliamentary, presidential, and parliamentary elections. None of the main parties, neither PSD nor PNL, have proposed a program to combat corruption to society.
The other day, one of my younger friends told me that he went to Cotroceni to protest because the country's president promulgated a law to close some cases, which means letting off the hook people who had stolen hundreds of millions of euros from our pockets with a simple signature. These guys kept our money in their pockets and just carry on
Gabriel Liiceanu, philosopher and writer, interview for Spotmedia.ro
Both parties, through their leaders, Marcel Ciolacu and Nicolae Ciucă, seek to gain citizens' votes with speeches full of generalities, promises of salary increases, pensions, economic growth, without addressing the core issue that a large part of public funds is being diverted.
The Opposition voice, the United Right Alliance, is not very audible in society, although there are USR leaders trying to bring up the important and sensitive issue in Romanian society - the scourge of corruption.
The efforts of writer and editor Gabriel Liiceanu to awaken society from its lethargy regarding corruption deserve applause and should be brought to the attention of those currently in power, showing them once again that they fail to heal Romania of this disease.
In fact, on Sunday, when we go to vote, the choice we make is between corrupt politicians and less corrupt ones. The only differentiating criterion.
Iohannis and the Restoration of Political Privileges
If we look at the electoral campaign, we notice that the representatives of the ruling coalition have avoided talking about this aspect, taking refuge in various other themes, from nationalism to the fear of war, just to escape the burden of proposing a consistent program to reform the public system.
The two mandates of Klaus Iohannis, now seen at the end, have also represented a path in which the privileges of the political class have been restored and the impunity of some leaders.
PNL is preparing Nicolae Ciucă to run for president, but the former general has a major issue with plagiarism in his doctoral thesis.
Marcel Ciolacu is also seeking a way to run, pressured from within the party, but he has not managed to gain the trust of citizens and propose an honest project for Romania.
As Prime Minister, he played it safe, trying not to alienate his electorate.
In my opinion, no one really knows what Marcel Ciolacu wants, signs show that neither does he. What is his plan for Romania, for his party? From all he does, it seems that he is only pursuing one thing, to survive politically, just as he has done so far.
After Sunday's elections, this game will end for both PSD and PNL. The two parties must clarify their positions to the Romanian people. They will no longer be able to hide behind each other, waving the tattered flag of stability.