ALDE's Tariceanu: I find Giuliani's letter very useful

National leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), minor at rule, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, also chairman of the Romanian Senate, said on Tuesday that Rudolph Giuliani's letter was welcomed, arguing that "those who are trying to see this as a lobbying attempt" are "malevolent."

"The malevolent try to read Rudolph Giuliani's letter in a lobbying key. I do not know who he would be lobbying for, I have not heard him to be some registered lobbyist for anyone in Romania so that such a statement may be justified somehow," Tariceanu said at Parliament Palace.

He mentioned that Rudolph Giuliani made a name for himself as a very successful prosecutor of "the real New York mafia," and as mayor of the city with a long tenure, including during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"Rudolph Giuliani is a personality both in the field of justice and in public life, very respected in the US. What seems to me to be remarkable is that, at the moment, the things many in Romania have tried to keep under wraps, namely and the serious abuses of DNA [the National Anti-Corruption Directorate], the collaboration between DNA and secret services in the form of protocols have crossed the ocean. These things, which I have singled out for at least four years in my public speeches have become subjects of major interest to those in the EU and those in America as well. (...) Giuliani's letter seems very, very useful to me. It makes recommendations from the point of view of a man who has solid legal knowledge, and he also probably imagine the climate that reigns in Romania and which practically is making a rational discussion on legal issues hardly acceptable today," Tariceanu added.

Referencing to the possibility of an amnesty, proposed by Rudolph Giuliani in the letter, Tariceanu said: "When you find legal or law enforcement deficiencies and abuses (...) whereby innocent people have come to be sentenced, you start asking how to remedy things (...) The measure proposed by the minister of justice (review of court rulings issued as a result of the use of illegal telephone interceptions and the use of protocols) is an extremely necessary one to enable those who have been affected to regain justice and dignity."