Nicușor Dan, after Simion accused him of ordering the blocking of the AUR protest: “How many stupid things in a row can a political leader say?”

President of Romania, Nicușor Dan, attacked AUR leader George Simion on Thursday after Simion accused the leader at Cotroceni of having directly intervened in the decision not to authorize the AUR protest scheduled for Saturday in Bucharest.

Nicușor Dan categorically rejected the accusations during a press conference in Dublin, on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit.

Asked whether he had intervened to prevent the protest from being authorized, the president replied: “The answer is no, obviously.”

“I do not want to comment except with a general question. That is: ‘How many stupid things in a row can a political leader say before we stop paying attention to him?’ I mean, you say one stupid thing, then another stupid thing, you say 100 stupid things—in other words, at some point, I believe that people simply should no longer pay attention to what someone says if that person has proven that they have said stupid things 100 times. That is my comment,” the president declared.

Simion claimed that the head of state “gave the order” to block the demonstration, but he did not present direct evidence supporting the claims.

Simion stated that his information came from three sources, including advisers to General Mayor Ciprian Ciucu and people from law enforcement structures. The municipality decided not to authorize the protest amid warnings about possible violence. The AUR leader also criticized the fact that the president would discuss the authorization of rallies, claiming that he acts as the “head of the system.”