PSD's Ciolacu: President Iohannis' attack is a small non-European one; I don't know Viktor Orban

Interim leader of the Social Democratic Party Marcel Ciolacu on Monday evening stated that the accusations made by President Iohannis according to which "PSD is struggling to give the Ardeal to the Hungarians" are "a non-European attack" and said he did not know Viktor Orban, the Hungarian PM.

"The attack of President Iohannis is a small and non-European one, which has also been sanctioned by the international mass media and the chancellors. In fact, Iohannis crossed a red line in terms of political attacks and I mean here, first of all, the attack related to Ardeal. The state institutions told me, absolutely all of them, that there is no such thing like a file related to this. (...) I don't know Viktor Orban, and by this I don't mean that I wouldn't like to know him, I just haven't had the pleasure yet, we haven't even spoke on the phone, not directly, not through others, and President Iohannis is aware of that situation, since he should be the most informed person in Romania. The eternal enemy of the President is the PSD, it has already become an obsession, you have noticed for sure how often he repeats our party's name every time he has something to say. I, in exchange, I am a man who rather likes to build things, the feeling of hatred doesn't exist for me and I believe that a political leader shouldn't be measured by how much he swears at his political opponents," Marcel Ciolacu told TVR national television broadcaster.

In his opinion, President Iohannis wanted to mask the inefficiency of Ludovic Orban's Government by doing this, which is totally inappropriate for a European President.

Marcel Ciolacu gave assurance that he did not have an understanding with Klaus Iohannis or PNL (National Liberal Party), and also that, while referring to some criticisms against his party colleagues regarding the manner in which they react to the accusations made by the President, a party is weakened by both external and internal attacks.

"The party is affected by both the internal political struggles and by the attacks coming from the outside, especially that I am an interim. What some of my colleagues seem to be unable to understand is that this is exactly the political game President Iohannis and PNL want. Because one cannot weaken a part by only attacking it from outside, one also needs an inside scenario and an internal game to weaken that party as much as possible," said Ciolacu.

The interim Social Democratic leader also said that PSD's score in the opinion polls is "a strong 29," while PNL "has around 35 percent" and underscored that "PSD must focus exclusively on the Romanians' agenda and on Romania.