The Foundation for the Defense of the Citizen Against State Abuses (FACIAS) has written to the Minister for European Investment and Projects, Marcel Bolos, requesting that the information and annexes concerning Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan be declassified on the basis of Article 24 of Decision No 585/2002 approving the National Standards for the Protection of Classified Information in Romania.
FACIAS discovered that the secrecy of this information regarding the development of Romania is not only immoral in relation to the right of the population to be informed about how the governors comply with this very important plan for the country, but also illegal as the secrecy of this type of content is not possible according to the laws in force.
FACIAS believes that civil society cannot stand idly by when, following an arbitrary decision by a former minister, Cristian Ghinea, the public has been denied access to unclassified information. We wonder what the real reason for such a decision is, given that failure to comply with the deadlines in Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan may lead to the loss of European funding? Why is civil society and the press not wanted to know in detail what the government's obligations under the plan are? How can the Romanian public hold to account those who are responsible for not making the investments included in the plan on time if the details are being kept secret?
As a result of this intolerable situation, FACIAS has taken the first step towards normalising relations between the Romanian public and the institution responsible for managing this plan, by sending a written letter to the ministry responsible for managing this plan. FACIAS has demonstrated with arguments provided by the legislative framework that the secrecy of this information is not justified and has expressly requested the urgent transparency of this information.
FACIAS will continue this approach if its perfectly legitimate request is ignored, because Romanians have the right to know the work of those they have elected to represent them, given that this work is closely linked to the development of their country.