QUESTIONED BY ANDREEA PAUL, Mişu Negriţoiu recants his own mission - "the depoliticization of the ASF"

Mişu Negriţoiu, the president of the Financial Oversight Authority (ASF), seems to have forgotten his self-declared goal he announced in the beginning of his term - the "depoliticization" of the institution, as written in a response sent to PNL deputy Andreea Paul, which questioned them on the issue of personnel restructuring through the procedure of direct allocation of positions or through tests.

The restructuring of the ASF was completed through the awarding of 239 jobs through tests, and 227 jobs have seen minor to no modifications in their descriptions. In total 466 employees in the new structure of the ASF, and 42 positions have remained unfilled, Mişu Negriţoiu states in his response.

What is interesting is that the president of the ASF is now suggesting that the ASF has specialists in its employ, and an eventual political affiliation would not make them any less professional.

He writes: "From the very creation of the Financial Oversight Authority, the restructuring of the personnel has never sought the limited, negative and reductionist outlook meant strictly to reduce the number of employees, with possible negative consequences for the future and the stability of the institution. (...)

With the initiation of the restructuring/reorganization process and streamlining of the activity of the ASF, after the numerous rounds of tests and selections, when the we speak about the Financial Oversight Authority we can not speak about employees hired or promoted based on political, technocratic or any other kind of criteria and influence, but only about specialists recruited and promoted through high competence.

Also, if the specialists of the ASF currently demonstrate professional maturity which qualifies them to handle the issues of the financial market in Romania, it would be a huge mistake to state that if some of them currently have a political affiliation or may do so in the future, this would disqualify them or make them lose their role of specialists".

In the beginning of his term, Mişu Negriţoiu was boasting that he would eliminate nepotism within the institution, as the huge salaries paid at the ASF and the hirings made on political criteria had caused a huge scandal at the time.

Deputy Andreea Paul remembers the statements made by Mişu Negriţoiu upon taking over the position within the ASF and said she was partially pleased with the answer she got.

"In the response sent, Mişu Negriţoiu actually recants his own mission - «the depoliticization of the ASF»", Mrs. Paul, adding: "It is an elaborate response, which is good, but the almost equal distribution between the jobs that were awarded through tests and those that were awarded directly can raise questions".

In the end of last year, in the media, there have been scenarios about Mişu Negriţoiu being replaced at the helm of the ASF.

Andreea Paul told us that she had no information in that regard, but she reminded that in the budget commission of the Chamber of Deputies the annual report of the ASF would be discussed.

"I intend to request the hearing of the management of the ASF, on the issue of the RCA policies and also because the year 2015 was a busy one for the non-banking financial markets, which concern 10 million Romanians", the deputy in question told us, who said that a "public hearing"-style debate should take place, which would also be attended by independent specialists.

Even though he did not receive any questions on that issue, Mişu Negriţoiu wanted to send Andreea Paul the message that the insurance market is troubled: "The Romanian financial market, particularly the automotive insurance market, is going through a period of great turmoil, caused by the resounding bankruptcies which the Financial Oversight Authority has predicted on time. In the coming period, the ASF has to fulfill a difficult mission when it comes to diminishing the social pressure caused by an abusive behavior of some of the players on the insurance market, by implementing a plan of measures with immediate effects in the short and medium term".

In December, transport firms have protested against the hike of the price RCA policies and have asked for the resignation of the president of the ASF.