From May until today, PNL has spent „from subsidies granted by the state budget” 510,000 euros per month on 400 street panels promoting Nicolae Ciucă’s book, a personal project funded with public money. This includes the rent for advertising exposure, VAT, and local taxes.
The party also stated for the investigative website Snoop.ro that they paid 450,000 euros for producing and installing the display nationwide.
The total outdoor advertising cost for the book so far has been 2 million euros over the past three months.
By the end of the year, displaying Nicolae Ciucă's book will cost over 4 million euros in total.
The photograph of Nicolae Ciucă is the one on the cover of the book "A Soldier in the Service of the Country."
"We made a deal to take the panels for one year," explained Rareș Bogdan, PNL First Vice President. He said, "We strictly paid for the panels in the electoral area, and in the rest, we used them for something else," referring to his party leader's book.
Rareș Bogdan sees no conflict of interest in funding a private book with public money and says, "The fact that we are talking about a book makes me happy. After a long time, from 'The Curly-Haired Puppy and the Goat with Three Kids,' some will finally hold a book in their hands."
Nicolae Ciucă announced during the European Parliament election campaign that he would publish a book in June at RAO Publishing House.
The first release date was not respected. The book launch was postponed to August. As the author and initial holder of the intellectual property rights to the book, Nicolae Ciucă stated that all proceeds would be "donated to charitable initiatives."
"The pages of this book are about me. They are my thoughts on what the transition from a military man to a politician meant. They are about my life, the one behind the desk, microphone, or television," wrote Nicolae Ciucă on the book's dedicated website, nicolaeciuca.ro.
Ciolacu's Ironic Reaction
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, president of the PSD, avoided commenting on the revelations. However, he said that considering the intense promotion, Ciucă's book will be "a best-seller."
"I understand that they were used for the launch of a book. It will be a best-seller, I am firmly convinced, especially considering the promotion it had," Ciucă replied, avoiding further comments on the subject.