site.btaCourt Confirms Former President Basescu’s Securitate Past. What Follows?

Traian Basescu, Romania’s distinctive former President ousted no less than twice in his ten-year tenure, has rarely appeared in the spotlight in recent years. He is currently a Member of the European Parliament and in the last December 2020 elections, his right People's Movement Party (PMP) failed to enter parliament. 

Basescu, however, made headlines on Wednesday after the Supreme Court of Cassation conclusively confirmed that the former head of state had been an agent of the Securitate, the fearsome communist-era secret police. Basescu, who has always denied this, said he would take the necessary legal action before the European Court of Human Rights.

In Romania: Codename “Petrov” 

Basescu was mayor of Bucharest and leader of the Democratic Party before winning two consecutive presidential terms and becoming Romania’s head of state between 2004 and 2014. In 2004, he won the presidential elections against social democrat Adrian Nastase, and in 2014 he won against another one, Mircea Geoana. Prior to entering politics, Basescu was captain in the merchant navy. 

During his presidency, Basescu became known for his inability to coexist with governments with the participation of the Social Democratic Party, which led to his two temporary suspensions from office but not to a final impeachment. 

As a typical right-wing leader, Basescu always distinguished himself from the communist past. What is more, he was checked repeatedly by the National Council for the Study of Securitate Archives (CNSAS) and received certificates that he had not collaborated. The last certificate dates from 2014, and the previous ones were issued in 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2009.

In 2019 though, the Bucharest Appellate Court accepted the appeal of the CNSAS College to affirm the fact that the former president had collaborated with Securitate. The College submitted documents showing that Basescu had filed two reports in his own hand in 1975 under the codename “Petrov”. On March 23, 2022, the Supreme Court of Cassation rejected Basescu’s appeal and confirmed the first-instance ruling.

By a quirk of fate, Basescu was the one who ordered the largest transfer of documents from the intelligence services to CNSAS in 2007, Radio Free Europe noted. 

During the trial, Basescu continued to deny his association with Securitate.

Abroad

Basescu’s career as a politician is marked by numerous achievements internationally, including the country’s EU accession in 2007 and the key visit to the U.S. in 2011, which boosted bilateral cooperation. There were also a number of controversial points, particularly in relations with neighboring Moldova. Basescu has always been for Romania’s unification with Moldova, an idea which the pro-Russian presidents of the former Soviet republic did not like. Things came to a head in 2009 when Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin blamed Basescu for meddling in the country’s home affairs and inciting the anti-government protests in Chisinau. 

Basescu and his wife, Maria, were granted Moldovan citizenship in 2016, but in 2017 the then-president Igor Dodon launched a procedure for withdrawal of that citizenship, a decision confirmed by the Appellate Court in Chisinau in 2018. At that time Romanian media wrote that he had eyed the Moldovan presidency since he could no longer run in Romania itself. 

In 2014 Basescu established his People’s Movement Party (PMP). This won 5.5 per cent in the 2016 parliamentary elections but failed to cross the 5 per cent threshold in 2020. 

The former head of state, now honorary president of the party, was elected member of the European Parliament in 2019.

In Romania

The court ruling on Wednesday was followed by calls for resigning from the position in the European Parliament. These came from the ad hoc leader of the opposition Save Romania Union, Catalin Drula, and the former leader of the liberals and current head of The Right Force, Ludovic Orban. 

According to the former president of the Constitutional Court Augustin Zegrean, as quoted by Mediafax, the court ruling has moral rather than legal consequences and there is no danger for Basescu’s term as MEP.

The ruling will nevertheless have some concrete results related to the withdrawal of some privileges for Basescu as former president, lawyers quoted by the Adevarul say. 

These include the rights of former heads of state that include free of charge protocol housing, a monthly allowance 75 per cent of that of the incumbent president, 24/7 security by the Security and Protection Service and a vehicle provided by the same.

All in all, the news is not unexpected, but the decision of the Romanian Supreme Court of Cassation, albeit symbolic, reminded many politicians that the past cannot be forgotten.

.