Chairpersons of the Parliament"s Defence Committees: "We Expect The Government To Explain Why The Army Procurement Plan Is Blocked"

• PNL MPs ask President Traian Basescu to call a CSAT meeting on the Army Procurement Strategy

The Chairpersons of the Defence Committees of the two Chambers of Parliament, Teodor Melescanu (Sen. PNL) and George Scutaru (MP, PNL) yesterday issued a joint press release announcing that they had asked Prime Minister Emil Boc and Finance Minister Gheorghe Pogea to provide explanations regarding the status of the Army Procurement Plan.

The two members of the National Liberal Party (PNL) further informed that "During the hearing of Minister of Defence Mihai Stanisoara and other officials of the Ministry of Defence, we were astonished to learn that the Ministry of Finance was blocking the approval of the Army Procurement Plan for 2010 - 2015. The discussions revealed that strategic procurement programmes were jeopardized by a lack of decision of the Government and especially of the Ministry of Finance."

According to the two Chairpersons, "The most serious situation concerns the Strategic Procurement Programme for Multi-Role Aircraft, considering that the lifespan of the MIG 21 Lancer aircraft currently employed by the Romanian Air Force ends in 2010 - 2011." According to them, "The Minister of Defence was unable to state whether the procurement procedure for multi-role aircraft was going to start in 2009, because this was a multi-annual programme and the Ministry of Finance could not produce a forecast of the State Budget for the entire duration of such programme of vital importance for the Romanian Armed Forces."

"It is simply unacceptable that Prime Minister Boc and the Minister of Finance be incapable of stating what funding the Romanian State can provide to support strategic programmes of the Army," the PNL officials noted. "We demand urgent explanations from Prime Minister Boc and Minister Pogea with regards to the delay in the approval and implementation of the Army Procurement Plan," they added.

Senator Teodor Melescanu and George Scutaru MP asked President Traian Basescu to call a meeting of the Defence Council (CSAT) to discuss the Army Procurement Plan. "We do not understand President Traian Basescu"s lack of reaction. In his capacities as Chairman of the Defence Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Romanian Armed Forces, he has the constitutional obligation to ensure the proper functionality of the Romanian Army," the two Liberal parliamentarians concluded.