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The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Liviu Dragnea, stated that, from what he knows, Florian Coldea is a very skilled professional, but the parliamentary committee for the control of the SRI (Romanian Intelligence Service) must call for hearings the director of SRI, Eduard Hellvig, to check the disclosures made in the last period regarding Coldea.
"I do not know many things about Florian Coldea, but, from what I have read, from what I have heard, from what I have discussed with others in the last period, in the last 2-3 years, what I can say about him, from what I know, he is a very skilled professional. I do not know much about Eduard Hellvig's grip of steel or grip of velvet, but I think he had a very good collaboration relation and work relation with Mr Florian Coldea. I do not know what Mr Coldea will do, wether he will come back on his position or not, there are all sorts of discussions, only they and President Iohannis know, probably. Beyond that, what I think it is not good for the Romanian state is the scandal that was generated on these disclosures. One consequence is the suspension of Mr Coldea, but the scandal itself affects the credibility of the SRI, which is one of the most important pillars for national stability and security. Everyone says that the SRI, as well the SIE [Foreign Intelligence Service], as well the Ministry of Interior and the DGIPI [Directorate General of Information and Internal Protection], as well other structures, must be very well structured and stable, and enjoy the internal and international prestige. The SRI is part of a network of intelligence services with our partners from NATO, and not only very important but the exchange of information should not be affected by this scandal," Dragnea said on Antena 3 private television broadcaster.
He added that the new Committee for the control of the SRI, which will be formed on Monday in Parliament, must investigate all the things that have been said in the last period about SRI General Florian Coldea.
"A lot has been discussed wether the new SRI Committee must investigate these things. In my opinion, the new SRI Committee must do this thing, must call Mr Hellvig for hearings, I think he also wants this thing because any non-investigation, if I may say so, is not doing anything than expanding this Ministry, this lack of information, lack of knowledge. A hearing and an objective checkup, made very seriously and very professionally is in the benefit of everybody, the institution and Parliament, and public opinion and the state. I think that at the SRI Committee, director Hellvig will have the possibility, in an official and institutional environment, to answer the questions and clarify many things that should be clarified. This is a scandal which should not be closed, in the sense of being swept under the carpet, it must be clarified and move on, the institution is much too important," the Speaker of Chamber of Deputies mentioned.
Dragnea has specified that there is no agreement so that PNL (National Liberal Party) take the leadership of the Committee for the control of the SIE and the PSD (Social Democratic Party) take the control of the SRI, however the PSD will have four seats out of nine in the SRI Committee.
