The Presidential Administration has opted “for a wider representation” at the reception hosted by President Klaus Iohannis on Europe Day celebrated on May 9, with PSD chairman Liviu Dragnea and former PM Victor Dragnea also on the guests’ list, despite their legal problems, sentences and files in courts.
The President hadn’t invited Dragnea on the National Day parade and reception on December 1st precisely due to his legal problems.
The Presidency’s spokeswoman Madalina Dobrovolschi justified his invitation by the fact that “now the option was for an extended list to satisfy the principle of a wider representation of the state institutions”.
“This time, the option was for an extended list to satisfy the principle of a wider representation of the state institutions and of the Romanian society in general, culture, education, health, economy. You will see there is going to be a lot of people and I can assure you that the Cotroceni Palace’s courtyard is large enough to host everybody,” Dobrovolschi answered when asked why Liviu Dragnea had been invited to the Europe Day reception.
The SocDem chairman also confirmed on Thursday that he had received the invitation.
Dragnea wasn’t invited to attend the military parade and the reception at Cotroceni Palace on Romania’s National Day in December last year, due to his legal problems, the sentence on probation in the referendum file and the other file pending in court related to abuse of office charges.
President Klaus Iohannis explained back then the criteria underlying the invitations sent to officials to attend the National Day celebration. Iohannis argued that the politicians who have files in court, guilty or not, should take one step behind.
According to the president, it’s good to have signs that political cleaning is operating at the top of state institutions.