EC Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu denounced in a Facebook post the ruling Social Democrat Party’s stances against her, saying she was shocked that her statements on the need of accelerating projects for Romania’s development had been extremely policitised.
„I think it’s important for the thousands of colleagues and friends with whom I have shared years of work, from 1991 to 2014, to say that I am still a PSD Member. I was elected deputy and senator on the PSD’s lists. In 2014, I topped the party’s list for the EP elections, when PSD has won 16 mandates out of those 32 allotted to Romania,” Cretu said in her Facebook post.
She further recounts how she has been nominated by the former PSD Gov’t in 2014 as EC Commissioner and that she gave up the position of PSD Vice-President back then.
Corina Cretu added that she had grown up in PSD and she is attached to the European Social-Democrat values. „As European Commissioner I wish to work with all Government, regardless of their political color, which I have done during my four-year mandate”.
„It is true that the fact that I will end my term as commissioner for regional policy soon and the short time left of the 2014-2020 financial framework made me prompt in more frequently lately, talk more with the prime ministers, ministers and publicly speak about the need of accelerating the enforcement of the projects, particularly in the transport and healthcare infrastructure field, so that Romania could use the allotment assigned by the EU budget. I am shocked that my interventions in favor of Romania’s development have been exaggeratedly policitised,” she argued.
Cretu also replied to „offenses” and „injuries” that she would be „sold to foreign interests”.
„The offenses started against me and especially the attacks against the European Union, the injuries accusing me of being sold to foreign interests, considering that all know how much effort I put in taking on European funds all Romania’s credits to the EIB and the EDB, the salaries of the Romanian clerks that work on EU funds, seeing tens of unfinished projects for which the state lost EUR 3 billion, frankly, all those left me speechless”.
„I would have understood to be considered a traitor for the country and the party if we had had tens of projects submitted to EC that I should have forgotten in drawers for long periods of time,” she added, underlining that no other major file is submitted by Romania to the EC, referring not only to the regional hospitals, but also to projects on highways or on Bucharest’s ring road.
„No other major file is submitted to the European Commission, considering Romania has long exceeded submission deadlines, not only for the regional hospitals, but also for highways Piteşti-Sibiu, Târgu Mureş-Iaşi, Craiova-Piteşti, the bridge in Brăila, Pipera-Berceni subway line, Bucharest ring road, etc. It is said we don’t manage to develop such projects and all I get from Bucharest are insults and accusations. Not just me, but other EC services or European institutions”, Cretu pointed out.
In the end, the EC commissioner says that, despite Brexit, she had made efforts that Romania should get more money for investments from the EU budget during 2021-2027.
„For 2021-2027, I have struggled for more money for Romania, so that it should benefit of more EUR 8 billion as against the current period. When you manage to obtain a 10 % increase of the EU funds for your country, despite the exit of the second contributor to the EU Budget (Great Britain), you are definitely in the service of some foreign interests, aren’t you?”, Cretu concluded.
Her statements come amid growing tensions between her and the Dancila Government. PM Dancila’s adviser, Darius Valcov has recently accused that the cost of a regional hospital in Iasi is EUR 530 M and the rest of the EUR 480 M lies with the Romanian state.