Senate President Tariceanu says he was surprised by President's proposal recommending Vlase at SIE helm

President of the Senate Calin Popescu-Tariceanu stated on Friday that he was surprised by the head of state's proposal to appoint Gabriel Vlase at the helm of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE) and mentioned that, a decision of the coalition regarding the vote in the plenary of Parliament hasn't been made yet.

"I was surprised, but not only me. I think a lot of people were surprised. (...) He is qualified [Gabriel Vlase as director of the SIE]. I do not know what the criteria were. I don't want to say that he lacks the necessary qualification, but I don't want to hide the fact that I was surprised. I believe Mr Dragnea was surprised, too. Firstly, I was surprised that, after one year and a half when this office should have been filled and it wasn't, this appointment comes at this moment. I sit and wonder what is the meaning of it. I don't want to make speculations now, but be sure that I have asked myself some questions. (...) Some calculations have been made, because it dropped [the proposal] so out of the blue," Tariceanu told the Senate.

When asked if Gabriel Vlase is the proposal recommended by the coalition, Tariceanu responded: "I was here in the coalition. I don't believe that such thing could have passed us by. Such proposal hasn't come up at any moment. (...) I learned about it [about President Iohannis' proposal] from the Cotroceni release."

He mentioned that a decision hasn't been made yet in the governing coalition regarding the vote in the joint plenary of Parliament.

"We are going to discuss and analyse it," Tariceanu added.

President Klaus Iohannis has sent a letter to the chairs of Parliament recommending Gabriel Vlase as director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE). AGERPRES