Chisinau mayor knew of Romanian PM nominee hours before party leaders, says Capital mayor

Adrian Veștea's nomination for prime minister came as a surprise to some within the PNL, with revelations suggesting that Chisinau Mayor Ion Ceban was aware of the decision hours before key Romanian Liberal Party (PNL) leaders.

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A shock. I was in Singapore. I'll give you a piece of news now. I can't prove it, but... believe my word, I have no way of inventing something like this.

Ciprian Ciucu, the general mayor of the Capital, described the nomination as a "shock." He stated that he was in Singapore when he received the news and that the decision by President Nicușor Dan to nominate Veștea had not been previously communicated to party leaders like Ilie Bolojan and Dan Motreanu.

Ciucu recounted a conversation with Ion Ceban, the mayor of Chisinau, who seemed unsurprised by the news. According to Ciucu, Ceban indicated he had known about Veștea's impending nomination for several hours, even showing Ciucu a message on his phone. This suggests Ceban had prior information before prominent PNL figures.

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I told him that I had just found out that the President of Romania, without us knowing – because we had spoken with Ilie Bolojan and Dan Motreanu – had nominated Mr. Veștea as prime minister. He said: 'Oh, you didn't know?'

This disclosure raises questions about internal communication and decision-making processes within the PNL regarding the prime ministerial candidate. The full interview with Ciprian Ciucu was scheduled to air on Digi24.

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I asked him: 'Did you know?' He replied: 'Yes, for a few hours.' He showed me his phone, where someone had written to him about Veștea. So Mr. Ceban from Chisinau found out before Ilie Bolojan, before me, and before Dan Motreanu that Veștea would be nominated as prime minister of Romania.