Why Did The President Thank Us?

President Traian Basescu thanked the mass media that had disclosed his brother"s involvement in a military-oriented company.

The mass media that disclosed the case is BURSA, in association with the programme BizBazar hosted by Moise Guran on Antena 3.

So, by the press release from the Presidency, Traian Basescu thanked BURSA and BizBazar, both being financial-oriented media.

Why did he thank us?

Why didn"t he start slapping us?!

The scandal sparked by our disclosure is probably one of the most serious in the history of Romania"s politics after 1989. Traian Basescu himself admitted that, should his brother become involved with another doubtful company, there would be no point in him running for re-election.

Without any malice and having only righteousness in mind, we do not understand why Mircea Basescu would need to mess up again. Is this case not serious enough?

Of course, the Dambovita is hardly anything like the Thames or the Seine.

Therefore, let us accept that, under the Romanian circumstances, the apologies offered by the Presidency are one step forward to what we call "being normal." (Any civilized democracy would hardly receive such apologies as enough a reaction.)

Again, if we caused him such problems, why did the President thank us?

First of all, Traian Basescu knows that BURSA, the origin of the disclosure, is not controlled by political players, or business players or any intelligence mongers.

So the disclosure is not a hostile act, but the result of pure journalistic work in the service of the public.

Second (and most important) of all, the disclosure was not "politically directed:" we discovered the case, we verified the information for solid grounds and we published it immediately.

Judging by the remarks of Mugur Ciuvica, formerly an advisor to ex-President Emil Constantinescu, it appears that his investigative group were looking into the case at the same time as we were.

Unlike BURSA, Mr. Ciuvica (as he said it himself) had calculated the best timing for going public with the case and decided to do so late this week or even later.

But what might such calculation look like?

He probably calculated a chart for the damage to the President"s image and decided that the Udrea scandal should be left to burn out only to set off the bomb of the scandal involving his brother, Mircea Basescu, in a politically fatal explosion for the President.

Let us also note that, within this timeframe of a week or two, the military-oriented company in which Mircea Basescu was involved would have had the time to sign at least one contract.

BURSA beat Ciuvica to it, although we had no idea of his calculations.

This is the reason why the President thanked us. The immediate publication of that information, an imperative of journalistic ethics, prompted the President"s gratitude.

Although we did it for the interest of the public and not his own, we can politely answer the President:

"You"re welcome!"

Post scriptum

Several Liberals came up with the scenario that BURSA was paid by Basescu himself to trigger the scandal in order to draw attention from the other ongoing scandal, concerning Udrea.

That"s rich...