Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BUCHAREST1499
2006-09-26 16:54:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bucharest
Cable title:  

OPPOSITION PARTY FIGURE, BASESCU POLITICAL ADVISOR

Tags:  PGOV PREL RO 
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VZCZCXRO0802
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHBM #1499/01 2691654
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 261654Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5242
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 001499 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/NCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL RO
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION PARTY FIGURE, BASESCU POLITICAL ADVISOR
NOMINATED TO HEAD ROMANIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES

REF: BUCHAREST 1171

Classified By: Classified by DCM Mark Taplin for Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d
)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 001499

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/NCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL RO
SUBJECT: OPPOSITION PARTY FIGURE, BASESCU POLITICAL ADVISOR
NOMINATED TO HEAD ROMANIAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES

REF: BUCHAREST 1171

Classified By: Classified by DCM Mark Taplin for Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d
)


1. (C) Summary: In a surprise move, President Traian
Basescu nominated George Maior, a senator of the opposition
Social-Democratic Party (PSD),to head the Romanian
Intelligence Service (SRI). Basescu's move has discomfited
his coalition partners in the PNL, and breaks with a
longstanding tradition of SRI chiefs coming from the main
governing party or from among the close collaborators of the
President. At the same time, Basescu also proposed one of
his closest political advisors, Claudiu Saftoiu, to head the
foreign intelligence service (SIE). Basescu's picks are
expected to be voted by Parliament in a joint session in the
first week of October. Both Maior and Saftoiu are young -
under forty - and have no apparent ties with the communist
regime or with the communist secret service, the infamous
Securitate. They both have strong track records as
supporters of close U.S.-Romanian cooperation. End summary.


2. (C) Romanian President Traian Basescu September 25
announced the nomination of George Maior, a senator of the
main opposition Social-Democratic Party (PSD),and Claudiu
Saftoiu, presidential advisor on domestic politics, to head
the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) and the Foreign
Intelligence Service (SIE),respectively. The former SRI and
SIE directors, together with the Ministry of Defense's
director of intelligence resigned in July in the wake of the
disappearance and flight of Omar Hayssam, a businessman of
Syrian origin accused of complicity in the kidnapping in Iraq
in 2005 of three Romanian journalists (Reftel). Parliament
must now approve in a joint session--based on a simple
majority of deputies and senators--the nominations put
forward by President Basescu.


3. (SBU) PSD president Mircea Geoana told the press on
September 25 that the decision of the president was "bold"
and that it would put an end to the "total warfare" between
ruling and opposition parties, or to the use of intelligence
services as a political weapon. Geoana suggested that the

naming of an opposition representative as SRI head should
become a "new rule" in Romanian politics. PD president, Emil
Boc, remarked that Basescu,s decision was a sign of
"political normality," as bridges between the government and
the opposition needed to be created in any democratic system.
PNL leaders, on the other hand, received the news with
evident dismay, decrying the lack of consultation over the
move by its ostensible coalition partner and openly fretting
over the prospect that this rapprochement could signal a move
to replace the PNL with the PSD as a coalition partner.


4. (C) In a similar vein, Geoana telephoned Ambassador
September 26 to laud President Basescu's choices for the two
positions, noting that both were younger individuals with no
links to Ceaucescu's Securitate. Geoana related that Maior
had "begged" him not to be nominated for the position of SRI
Director, saying he would be "cut to pieces" politically
during the confirmation process. Geoana added that he had
subsequently discussed the issue with Basescu, making the
point that this had to be a serious effort rather than a mere
political gesture. Geoana expressed confidence that Maior's
nomination would be approved without difficulty but said
Saftiou's nomination might attract more objections from PNL deputies.
Ultimately, however, the Prime Minister was not intested in a
losing "war" with the President over the issue, Geoana
reported. He also noted that he had received assurances from
PRM party head Vadim Tudor that the PRM would abstain, but
would "indirectly support" the two candidacies. Geoana
expressed his hope that the Embassy would support the two
candidates and also urged the Ambassador to support his
proposal for a permanent "rule change" of have the SRI
position reserved for opposition parties. Ambassador did not
respond to the latter request.


5. (C) In a phone conversation with DCM September 26,
Saftoiu said that he was "very confident" that his nomination
would be approved. He said he was not expecting any special
problems in his parliamentary review. Asked whether
congratulations or condolences were in order, Saftoiu
replied, "probably both."


6. (C) Comment: President Basescu,s decision to entrust the
top position of the most important intelligence service to
the main opposition party came as surprise move, breaking a
longstanding tradition of Presidents naming their closest
collaborators to head the intelligence services. The
nomination of Saftoiu and Major to head the intelligence
services is also seen as an adroit riposte to arguments from

BUCHAREST 00001499 002 OF 002


the Prime Minister Tariceanu's Liberal Party allies that the
positions should go to "clean" civilians rather than
professional intelligence officers. Naming an SRI head from
the leading opposition party neatly undercuts PNL claims that
Basescu is using the domestic intelligence service as a
political instrument even while it serves notice to the PNL
that the PD is willing to openly court the Social Democrats
as a future coalition partner. While the anti-Basescu voices
within the Prime Minister's camp expressed frustration over
the naming of Maior and Saftoiu, Tariceanu himself has
decided to resist any open political confrontation with the
President on this point, just as Geoana predicted. Instead,
according to the PM's chief of staff Mihnea Constantinescu,
Tariceanu will emphasize to the media if he is pressed to
comment on the matter that today's news of Romania's EU
accession in 2007 dwarfs the importance of the naming of new
intelligence chiefs "by a factor of ten to one." End
Comment.


7. (C) Biographic Note: Both nominees are youthful civilians
with a solid background in security matters, albeit with no
evident connections with the former communist political,
military or intelligence structures. Both are well and
favorably known to the Embassy and have demonstrated a
transatlantic orientation and willingness to work closely
with the USG. George Maior, 39, is a law graduate with
studies of international comparative law in the U.S. He
joined the Romanian Foreign Service in 1992 where he served
until 2000. In 2000, Maior became secretary of state for
euro-Atlantic integration and defense policy in the Ministry
of Defense, directly responsible for Romania's successful
bid to join the NATO and for start of the negotiations with
the U.S. on the Defense Cooperation Agreement. In 2004,
Maior ran for the Senate on the PSD list and later assumed
the chairmanship of the Senate's defense committee. Claudiu
Saftoiu is one of the closest collaborators of President
Basescu. Saftoiu, 38, is a graduate in arts and letters and
had a long career as a journalist before joining the
presidential staff as the senior presidential advisor on
domestic politics. Saftoiu's name was floated last year to
be the next the head of the recently established National
Community for Intelligence, and he played a key role in
drafting the new legislation on intelligence and security
currently under debate in Parliament.

Taubman