Parliament/No-confidence motion/Barna: Romania urgently needs competent government, not puppet at service of convicted criminal

Save Romania Union (USR) leader Dan Barna stated on Wednesday in Parliament's plenum that his party will vote for the no-confidence motion, the only way forward into Europe, highlighting that our country urgently needs a competent government, "not a puppet one, at the service of a convicted criminal."

"What are we deciding today? More than the fate of the Government led by Viorica Dancila, a prime minister which does not as much shame us but embarrasses us in front of the world. Today we are also deciding what kind of country we will be. Do we want to be from now on Dragnea's country, convicted for appropriating the social protection money of children in Teleorman [e.n. - county in Romania] and then asked for forgiveness not to the children but to criminals in jails? Do we want to be Dragnea's country where value and work are replaced with arrangements and bribery, where school, competency and honesty are replaced by scheming, nerve and privileges through special pensions? Do we want to be a Romania enslaved in debt with a national wealth stolen through the Sovereign Fund and a business milieu exasperated by whatever next month might bring along? Or do you want a dignified and just Romania in which honest people are rewarded for their merits and are all equal in front of the law, (...) a Romania in which theft is not an honour," Dan Barna said at the debate of the no-confidence motion titled "Ousting the Dragnea - Dancila government, a national emergency!", initiated by the Opposition.

He specified that at this very moment it is being decided whether Romania is "going backwards to the dark times of the past or forward, committed, towards a dignified and European Romania."

Dan Barna maintained that for several days, after the conviction and the resumption of protests against Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Liviu Dragnea, Save Romania Union became the target of intimidation campaigns and incitement to hatred. "It is a campaign which awfully resembles Iliescu's regime propaganda against the "Golans" [e.n. - "golan" meaning hoodlum, term used by then-President of Romania Ion Iliescu to describe protesters in central Bucharest in 1990, also leading to the protest being called the Golaniad] of University Square," Dan Barna added.

Barna affirmed that for 18 months and three governments, PSD has been doing nothing but amend the Justice laws.

"This is Dragnea's Romania, this is the Romania where Viorica Dancila is Prime Minister, a country where people are sicced at each other's throats. For 18 months and three governments, all you have been doing is amend the Justice laws so as to keep Dragnea from going to prison. And now thousands of people shout at you in front of the Parliament's seat: we do not want to be a nation of thieves. What have you done for the people who elected you? USR is not PSD's problem, but your own helplessness in delivering what you have promised," Dan Barna said.

USR's leader told premier Dancila she accepted doing to the country the "filth" the other two prime ministers refused to do.

"Ms. Dancila, I cannot grant you this benefit of the innocence, because beyond the numerous diplomatic blunders, beyond coming up with some protocol interjections and beyond the delight of some Romanian language varieties for which comedians actually receive copyright, you have accepted to do to this country all the filth that the other two prime ministers [e.n. - former PMs Sorin Grindeanu and Mihai Tudose, both representing the current ruling coalition] in their turn could not accept," Barna underscored.

The USR chair urged PSD's voters to ask from those they voted to take care of Romania, not of Liviu Dragnea.

"I urge you to ask from those you voted for to do the right thing, take care of Romania, not of Liviu Dragnea. After Ion Iliescu, Liviu Dragnea is the greatest evil that is happening to this country. We have lost at least 20 years because of a communist hungry for power and now we risk losing another 20 years because of a criminal who is trying to escape jail," he maintained.

Dan Barna emphasised that Romania needs a new government, at the citizen's service.

"Romania needs a new government, a competent government, at the citizen's service, a true government, not a puppet, manipulated by a convicted criminal. USR will vote the no-confidence motion against Dancila Cabinet. We believe this motion is one of the last chances to avoid Romania's entering a dictatorship similar to Putin's Russia, Erdogan's Turkey or Viktor Orban's Hungary, it is the only way forward, towards Europe, towards our common good as a nation," Barna specified. AGERPRES (RO - author: Alina Novaceanu, editor: Andreea Rotaru; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Razvan-Adrian Pandea)

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