Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has called on his former honorary adviser Victor Ponta to withdraw from the upcoming presidential elections in May following his controversial comments.
Ponta claimed that during his tenure as prime minister in 2014, he ordered the controlled flooding of several Romanian villages to prevent the Serbian capital Belgrade from being flooded. In return, he said, then-Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic granted him Serbian citizenship as a token of gratitude.
The statement sparked outrage. The leader of the USR party called on the prosecutor's office to take action, and Mircea Dinescu, a writer whose home was damaged by the 2014 flood, announced he would sue Ponta.
Ciolacu sharply criticized Ponta, saying that the main duty of the Romanian prime minister is to protect citizens and the interests of the country.
“To calmly admit that, as prime minister, you agreed to flood Romanian villages to save foreign cities, and to boast about being awarded citizenship of another country, is a clear sign of disregard for national sovereignty,” Ciolacu wrote on social media on Thursday.
Ciolacu added that now no one can consider Ponta a true supporter of sovereignty.
“Victor, at least make the right decision now. Withdraw your candidacy from the race! No socialist wants to see Nicusor Dan as president. At least atone for the grave mistake you made back then at the last moment,” Çolaku urged.
Victor Ponta, currently running as an independent under the slogan “Romania First” and second in the polls, made the following remarks in an interview on Wednesday evening: “During the floods, I gave the order to the Romanian authorities to open the valley at the Iron Gates (a dam on the Danube River), which prevented Belgrade from being flooded.”
Facing intense backlash, Ponta posted a video on Facebook on Thursday defending his actions, saying that by making the decision he had saved “thousands of lives in Serbia” and that he had acted as “a good neighbor and a good Christian should.”
Source: Source
