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The Executive Bureau of the National Liberal Party (PNL) is formally asking Minister of Defense Gabriel Les to urgently withdraw the preliminary complaint and drop the litigation action against the President's decree to extend General Nicolae Ciuca's term in office as Romania's Chief of Staff, PNL Chairman Ludovic Orban said on Monday, adding that otherwise Premier Viorica Dancila should dismiss the DefMin.
"Today we made the decision to formally ask the Defense Minister, on behalf of the PNL Executive Bureau, to promptly withdraw the preliminary complaint and drop the litigation action initiated against the President's decree extending General Ciuca's term in office as head of the General Staff by one year. Nowhere, in any normal country can such a situation be encountered where the Minister of Defense challenges the authority and legitimacy of the military command, challenges the constitutional and legal appointment of the military commander of the Romanian Forces. Through the initiated action, the Minister of Defense risks leaving the Romanian Army without a military commander. We also ask the Premier, should the Defense Minister not withdraw his complaint, to propose his dismissal for seriously harming national security and Romania's defense capability," Orban said after the meeting of the PNL Executive Bureau.
In his opinion, "all things happening in Defense now are scandalous." "There has never before been such an attempt to aggressively politicize the Army and, in general, the area of Defense, as lately," added the PNL leader.
He mentioned that Mihai Dan Chirica , the coordinator of the August 10, 2018 action of the Gendarmerie, was appointed Secretary of State at the Defense Ministry, "creating an unacceptable precedent."
"No procurement for military endowment conducted through competitive procedure has been yet completed, all procedures are either blocked or delayed. Moreover, something mind-blowing has happened, specifically the Secretary of State responsible for endowment filing, with the Defense Minister's consent, a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office about a procedure that is being carried out by the Defense Ministry itself. This is pure madness, this has never happened before in any other country (...) The decision is very simple - send [DefMin] Les home," Orban said.
AGERPRES .
