The hearings of the ministers proposed by designated Prime Minister Luca Niculescu began on Monday, with Florin Barbu being the first to be heard. In the specialized committees, he received a favorable endorsement, but the nomination was accompanied by a scandal, amid allegations concerning the way subsidies for reed-covered areas in the Danube Delta were handled.
The dispute began with a remark by a PNL parliamentarian regarding a subsidy of approximately two million euros, linked to land classified as pastureland. During the same hearing, USR raised the issue of files at the European Public Prosecutor’s Office concerning fraud involving European funds at institutions subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture.
During the hearings, Barbu asked the parliamentarians not to turn the discussions into a political confrontation and invoked his administrative experience, rejecting the insistence on the allegations made. At the same time, he presented areas of work for the first months, including measures announced for agriculture, ahead of the investiture vote scheduled in plenary.
