Opposition's Iohannis says PM's comparison of President Basescu's terms with Nazi regime 'inadmissible'

Photo credit (c): GRIGORE POPESCU / AGERPRES FLOW

National Liberal Party Chair and presidential candidate Klaus Iohannis qualified as 'inadmissible' Prime Minister Victor Ponta's statement on the consequences of President Basescu's regime being 'quite similar to the heritage of the Nazi regime'.

Speaking on Monday at the Realitatea TV station, Iohannis said that the PM should publicly apologize if his assertion was a mistake.

'The declaration made [by Ponta] comparing the past ten years in Romania with a very unfortunate period in Germany's history is utterly inadmissible. In any other European country, a politician making such a statement would have had to step down the next day. It is inadmissible to use the horrors of Nazism in a comparison with the evolutions in 21st century Romania. It's beyond imagination that a politician nowadays could express himself this way; it's a gross insult for all those who suffered under the Nazi dictatorship. It's an insult for Romanians, and obviously an insult for those who voted in the latest elections,' Iohannis asserted.

He mentioned several positions on the premier's declaration, and voiced his hope that it would influence Ponta's political behaviour.

'It's not the first time Mr. Ponta delivers affirmations completely out of the historical context, and I see a problem here; in such a position [as his] in the state, one cannot come with statements ignoring the whole recent history. There are many positions, and I would be glad if these positions would influence the political behaviour of the prime minister. (...) He is Romania's prime minister, and it is inadmissible for him issuing such statements; but if it was a mistake of him, I invite him in front of the cameras to apologize,' Iohannis added.AGERPRES

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