PNL's simple motion against Interior Minister gets rejected by Deputies' Chamber

The simple motion submitted by the National Liberal Party (PNL) against Interior Minister Carmen Dan, titled "PSD truncheons hitting Romanian democracy in the face" was rejected on Wednesday in the plenary sitting of the Chamber of Deputies, 149 votes "against", 99 "in favour" and 3 abstentions. 

The PNL parliamentary group in the Chamber of Deputies called for the resignation of the Interior Minister, mentioning that "she coordinated the law enforcement intervention on August 10." 

"From the perspective of the National Liberal Party, the resignation of Minister Carmen Dan, who has de facto coordinated the law enforcement intervention on August 10, and of the entire Gendarmerie management, is a national security priority: these people have proven that they are unwilling and unable to secure order and observe the law, including a series of key documents such as the Country's National Defense Strategy - which stresses that ensuring the citizens' safety is a national security interest. Tens of thousands of peaceful protesters have been hit and attacked with tear gas because of a group of provocateurs who couldn't be identified and isolated for hours. And we can also think of premeditation, if we remember that recently Liviu Dragnea and Carmen Dan wanted to vest the Gendarmerie with criminal investigation powers as well as with the guard and protection of the dignitaries. Esteemed colleagues, we cannot allow that our generation too accepts yet another miners' crackdown without holding those to blame responsible. We must never again condone the image of innocent, peaceful Romanians being hit on the heads with rubber truncheons. This is not the country we chose to build at the 1989 Revolution. Each illegal blow dealt on August 10 was actually a blow in the face of Romanian democracy, and the guilty must pay. Carmen Dan must quit today as head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs," the motion reads. 

The simple motion was debated on Tuesday in the plenary sitting of the Chamber of Deputies. 

During the debates, Interior Minister Carmen Dan reminded that she publicly presented explanations concerning what happened on August 10, the first explanations being given the very next day, when the preliminary data on the actions of the law enforcement were presented. She also said that she provided all requested documents to the Prosecutor's Office, and also sent them to the Defence Committees of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.