Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) MP George Simion claimed on Monday that Florin Barbu has no qualifications to be minister of Agriculture, adding that, during the protests, he „lied” to farmers that he would fight for them.

According to the AUR leader, minister Florin Barbu, who „should” be in charge of subsidies for farmers, „lied to farmers in Romania, during the protests, that he would fight for them and, in fact, he is fighting for Paul Stanescu (Social Democratic Party senator, ed. n.).”

„I propose that we have an hour of odes on TV for comrade Marcel Ciolacu and for the achievements during the Ciolacu government. Shut down Facebook, shut down TikTok, leave an hour on television to applaud him and the merged single party for really defending Romanian agriculture,” George Simion said.

Florin Barbu was appointed by PSD as minister of Agriculture „to help the Paul Stanescu family”, the Save Romania Union (USR) MP Diana Buzoianu said on Monday in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, at the debate on the simple motion against minister Barbu.

According to her, minister Barbu should „apologize to farmers for whom he failed to pass the necessary legislation”, respectively help them obtain the subsidy.

The Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) finds with astonishment that the Ministry of Agriculture is unable to hold the reins of institutional mechanisms, MP Konczei Csaba said on Monday, adding that he considers that pragmatic medium and long-term approaches are needed, meaning an efficient management of the entire system.

According to the UDMR MP, „consultations and dialogue must be second nature” and advocated several directions of action until the market of Ukrainian agricultural products is rebalanced, pointing out that „the most common sense would have been a control by the book at the borders regarding transport on the territory of the country and their quality control”. The UDMR MP drew attention to the need for pragmatic approaches on medium and long-term.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) MP Adrian Chesnoiu said, in turn, that Romanians „will have bread” because in the social-democratic governments and in the Marcel Ciolacu government „we are dealing with the largest allocation granted to agriculture”.

He added that, probably, „there will still be a circus” in Parliament, but neither the social-democrats, nor the liberals, nor those from UDMR are responsible for this, but „accountable are those who showed us how it cannot be done when they were in government”.

„I have carefully read the lines of this simple motion, which is, in fact, a collection of slogans, propaganda and many untruths, typical of USR. That it is a totally frivolous motion we can tell from the title. To talk about Ceauşescu the exponents of the new-rite security guards is embarrassing, to say the least. But the signatories of this motion can take advantage of the moment to explain to Romanians where the money from Romania’s accounts went. (…) In an election year, the gentlemen and ladies from USR took over „caring for the destinies of agriculture”. It was precisely them, those who stood out as the „zero government”. Also zero is the number of legislative projects for farmers and agriculture submitted by the signatories of the motion in the current legislature. Zero euros were allocated to agriculture also through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan made by Ghinea from USR,” minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Florin Barbu said on Monday in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies.

Companies that do not meet the legal conditions do not receive European money, minister Florin Barbu said, referring to subsidies for reed in the Danube Delta.

Barbu went on saying that regarding the launch of anti-hail missiles, he will have a meeting with all associative forms in the field and with farmers who are not part of these structures, and the decision will be made together, depending on the procedures that will be approved by the ministry, by joint order.

Then, on the closure of large stores on weekends, that Romanians cannot be forced to go shopping at the hours indicated by the state, he said that an attempt is being made to make a study „on certain focuses of people” and, depending on the result, the decision that is required will be made in the governing coalition.

Finally, his statement about Nicolae Ceausescu was an irony, said minister Barbu, and those who did not understand the joke can consider it as an uninspired statement, adding that he does not regret anything in his life.

The simple motion was initiated by USR deputies and is dubbed „Odes to Ceausescu do not save Romanian agriculture”.

In the simple motion, USR deputies demand that prime minister Marcel Ciolacu dismiss Agriculture minister Florin Barbu, arguing that he should leave his position „for someone more skilled and less nostalgic for communism.”

„Florin Barbu should leave this position for someone more skilled and less nostalgic for communism. He reports figures that are too „rigged” and yearns for the Golden Age. The signatories of this motion urge prime minister Marcel Ciolacu to dismiss the minister of Agriculture and, thus, to make farmers happy before the Easter holidays,” the document reads.

AGERPRES