ALDE's Tariceanu asking for inquiry into departure of 2,000 Romanians to work in Germany

National leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) Calin Popescu-Tariceanu argues that a parliamentary committee should be set up to inquire into what he dubs "the asparagus operation" that saw 2,000 Romanians leave to work in Germany amid an ongoing state of emergency.

"We do not want to investigate why the Romanians have left for work in Germany. Because we have seen that this is the topic embraced by my critics. We do not investigate why the Romanians have left, because it is the right of every Romanian to choose where to live and work. Perhaps we could investigate why where there are over 100,000 people infected with coronavirus work can be done, while in Romania, where there are less than 7,000 infections (if we are to trust the authorities), working is not possible. The purpose of the inquiry committee is to discover what the 'magic button' which, if pressed, neither the state of emergency nor the military orders matter any longer is. What magic button can be pressed in such a way that, only a few days after a telephone call between the Romanian and German presidents an operation can be conducted that has succeeded in gathering 2,000 Romanians in one place in a state of emergency? " Tariceanu wrote on Facebook on Monday.

He explained that many of the Romanians in question come from quarantined areas.

"Many of them, from quarantined areas where no flies enter or leave, were boarded in 50 buses that travelled hundreds of kilometres at night, without being stopped by the Police, to arrive at 07:00hrs in the morning at the Cluj Airport. While these 50 buses were travelling invisibly on our roads, 9,000 citizens in Romania were fined for not producing their bona-fide declaration, some of them being beaten up by angry policemen. They have joined the other over 80,000 having been fined by the Police since the state of emergency began," added Tariceanu.

The ALDE leader hopes that the inquiry committe "will find out what kind of work permits the 2,000 Romanians owned to be able to go to work in Germany, because we want to give the same permits to the Romanians who want to go to work in their home country."

"We want to know who has intervened with the emergency task force to get a military ordinance to allow the export of Romanians to Germany. (...) Last but not least, we have to see who the people who can press a button so magical that it will slay the stubbornness of the Romanian bureaucracy. Because, in these difficult times, it may be better for us to be led by puppeteers, instead of by their puppets," wrote Tariceanu.