PSD-PNL Clash: Agriculture Minister Sacks Head Of Agency for Payments in Agriculture

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There is an ongoing scandal in the governing coalition, generated by the dismissal of the head of the Agency for Payments in Agriculture (APIA), Ionuţ Lupu, endorsed by the PNL, after he came into conflict with the PSD Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, because of the family affairs of the PSD baron Paul Stănescu.

Officially, Ionuţ Lupu was dismissed, on Tuesday evening, by the PSD Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, due to “delays in the payment of subsidies to farmers and the blockage in the system”.

However, G4Media.ro reported that Ionuţ Lupu, made a complaint to the National Anti-corruption Diretorate (DNA) a few weeks ago in which he denounced alleged pressure on him to unlock payments for reeds in the Danube Delta.
Ștefan Stănescu, the son of the PSD leader Paul Stănescu, would have been the beneficiary of requests sent by two companies for the granting of 5 million euros in subsidies for reed harvesting in the Danube Delta.
APIA Bucharest, led by the liberal Ionuţ Lupu, recently blocked a request for payment of over 5 million euros in the business related to the reeds in the Danube Delta, requested by companies that were controlled by the son of the PSD leader Paul Stănescu and a former adviser of the social senator -democratic. And the European Public Prosecutor’s Office got on the phone, according to Știrile Pro TV. The Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, was the one who promoted a legislative amendment that transforms the lands in the Delta into pastures for which subsidies can be received.
According to some information appearing in the public space, the son of Paul Stănescu was to be the beneficiary of some subsidies given by APIA for harvesting reeds from the Danube Delta, the Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, declaring that he learned about this situation from the press. He then announced that all the complaints that came to the ministry on this subject were forwarded to the Ministry’s Control Body, which will do all the checks, and the final report will be made public.
The Agency for Payments in Agriculture and the European Commission started to carry out checks after two companies in which the son of PSD leader Paul Stănescu, Ștefan Stănescu, and the wife of a priest from Tulcea, who was an adviser to Paul Stănescu, were also shareholders.
A PRO TV report showed in an investigation from October 2023 how a legislative amendment promoted by the current Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, transforms the lands in the Delta into pastures for which subsidies can be received.
At the initiative of the social democrat Florin Barbu, when he was the head of the agriculture committee of the Chamber of Deputies, in October 2023, the Parliament secretly amended a law by which tens of thousands of hectares of land in the Danube Delta were transformed into meadows.
The bill was quickly voted by parliamentarians and later promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis.
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