On June 4th, in his first press conference held at the Cotroceni Palace as head of state, Nicușor Dan stated that there is a need for a civilian director at the SRI, an institution led for two years by an interim, and at the SIE, he admitted that he will change the leadership.
Additionally, the first question posed by reporters to the president in the press conference organized on July 14th at the Cotroceni Palace was about appointing a new SRI director.
"... (the appointment will be made) in a relatively short time, we will see when we have parliamentary sessions because, as you know, I make the proposal, and Parliament has to vote on it," stated Nicușor Dan.
Almost 3 months have passed since the president's first statement on this matter, and we still do not have new directors at the SRI and SIE.
Meanwhile, there continue to be information from sources about the president's proposals for the leadership of the two institutions.
Thus, political sources informed Antena3 that Nicușor Dan informed Ilie Bolojan and Sorin Grindeanu on Tuesday, during the discussion at the Government, about his intention to propose two names for the leadership of the Romanian Intelligence Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service: lawyer Gabriel Zbârcea for the SRI and diplomat Gabriel Lazurca for the SIE.
The proposals took the coalition leaders by surprise and even provoked their indignation, according to the sources cited.
The same information is also circulating from sources cited by Gândul.
On the other hand, political sources cited by G4Media state that the names circulated as possible nominations by President Nicușor Dan for the leadership of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) are lawyer Gabriel Zbârcea, as well as Florin Vlădică, the head of the Integrated Information Office at Cotroceni, and Mircea Abrudean, the Senate president supported by PNL. The cited source does not mention anything about the nomination for the SIE.
Mediafax managed to contact Gabriel Zbârcea and Marius Gabriel Lazurca, but the two did not want to comment on the information.
Who is Gabriel Zbârcea. The lawyer who declares himself "nationalist and sovereignist"
Gabriel Zbârcea is an associated lawyer coordinator at Țuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii and the founder of the law firm.
According to his presentation, he has gained "solid experience both in the public sector as President within the Authority for the Recovery of State Assets (AVAS), as well as in the Privatization Commission of Banca Comercială Română (BCR)."
Moreover, Zbarcea has argued against the Romanian state as a lawyer when representing the Roșia Montană Gold Corporation in the lawsuit where the Canadian company demanded $6.5 billion in compensation from the Romanian state.
Two years ago, he stated in a podcast with his partner Florentin Țuca: "I am a nationalist and a sovereignist. I believed and still believe in the EU, but in a Europe of nations. My Romania is a beautiful country, with extremely inventive people."
In the same podcast, Gabriel Zbârcea recounted how he met Marian Munteanu, the founder of the Romanian Students' League: "When I entered the Law Faculty, the first thing I did was to join the Students' League. And later, in a year, I met Marian Munteanu, who was our leader or one of the idols of my generation, and I asked him for an autograph on the Students' League card. Then I was offered the opportunity to become the president of the League and I was the longest-serving president of the League."
Marian Munteanu is known for his Legionnaire sympathies, writes Mediafax.
Who is Gabriel Lazurca
Gabriel Lazurca is a diplomat, Romania's ambassador to Mexico and former ambassador to Hungary and Moldova. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Lazurca holds a master's and a doctorate from the Sorbonne University in Paris.
A career diplomat with extensive experience in bilateral missions, Marius Gabriel Lazurca successively served as Romania's ambassador to the Holy See and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (2006-2010), in Moldova (2010-2016), and Hungary (2016-2020).
As Romania's Permanent Representative to the Danube Commission (2016-2020), Ambassador Lazurca gained relevant experience in multilateral diplomacy.
Before entering public service, Marius Gabriel Lazurca taught French literature and cultural anthropology at the West University of Timisoara.
Cioloș' Diversion at SRI
It is worth noting that the name of Dacian Cioloș was also heavily circulated in the public space as representing Nicușor Dan's choice for the leadership of the SRI.
However, according to Spotmedia.ro sources, there was no discussion between the two on this matter, with speculations being very similar to those developed around the appointment of a Constitutional Court judge by the new president.