The Delta Drowned in Politics

The officials in Bucharest still avoid confirming the dismissal of the Danube Delta’s governor, Virgil Munteanu (photo). However, the name of the next governor is already being brought into discussion: Georgel Rosca, the Tulcea NLP (National Liberal Party) vice-president. Not being politically involved, Virgil Munteanu has been a target for the present members of the Government, because he had been named during the SDP (Social Democratic Party) mandate.

INTERESTS. Virgil Munteanu has been awarded numerous international honors for his work in the Delta, but the Minister of the Environment, Sulfina Barbu, doesn’t take into account competency.

The first people to have a reaction to hearing the news about the replacement of Virgil Munteanu were the anglers’ syndicates in the Danube Delta. Yesterday at noon, they were to Tulcea and decided that they would come to Bucharest the day after for a discussion with the Minister of the Environment and Waters’ Management, Sulfina Babu. The meeting was initially scheduled for the beginning of this week. The representatives of the anglers’ unions say they want to discuss about two matters with the Minister. The first matter regards governor Virgil Munteanu, because they want him to continue his work, and the second regards the carrying on of the granting contracts. The anglers say that they will tell the Minister that Virgil Munteanu has been the only governor they were able to talk to and the only official that helped the anglers with their problems. Dumitru Costin, the president of the National Syndicates’ Block, the organization where these anglers are affiliated, will accompany the delegation.

THE CANDIDATE. Our sources confirm that the person proposed for becoming the Danube Delta governor is Georgel Rosca. For now, he works for the County Council of Tulcea and has no education in the area of ecology or environmental protection. According to some local information, Rosca seems to be involved in several deals in the Danube Delta. This way, Rosca’s group of supporters is involved in managing several agricultural and piscicultural domains in the Delta and in building a resort on the beech in Sulina. The present governor, Virgil Munteanu, vehemently opposed to building this resort, which would ecologically destroy the beech in Sulina, the last savage beech in Europe. He also opposed to maintaining the respective domains in the administration of the County Council (CC). According to the project, the respective resort will have 51 housing centers and would lead to the disappearance of a unique plant that survive in the sandy soil of the beech and would irremediably affect the area. In 2003, the Administration of Danube Delta Biosphere Reservation submitted a notice at the NAPO (National Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office) regarding this issue. Few days ago, the governor rejected the environment report the investors forwarded. As for the agricultural and piscicultural domains, they are included in the ecologic reconstruction in the Danube Delta program. The local interests ask for these domains not to belong to the state, but to remain in the CC administration. After these areas would be ecologically reconstructed with the state’s money, they would reenter the touristy circuit, and the money will go to the County Council.

POLITICAL DECISION. On the phone, Georgel Rosca admitted that the change of the Danube Delta governor would be politically influenced. "The procedure for replacing the governor is yet to be finished. After the elections, based on the Alliance’s protocol, the jobs started to be shared. We are four candidates for the job of Governor, one from the DP (Democratic Party) and three from the NLP. The county has forwarded the proposals and they are to be analyzed in Bucharest", Rosca said, emphasizing the fact that his other Alliance colleagues have the same chances he does. Rosca stated that Virgil Munteanu would be replaced because he is a SDP member. However, the present governor is not politically involved. The statement of Virgil Rosca contradicts the one of Minister Sulfina Barbu, who supported that Virgil Munteanu’s replacement would not be made due to political reasons, but due to competency reasons. Georgel Rosca says he has been a NLP member since 1997, after initially being involved in the AfR (Alliance for Romania), and that he doesn’t have any business in the Delta. Moreover, even though many other sources deny this, Rosca says he doesn’t work for the County Council of Tulcea, but he is a consultant at the Ministry of the Administration and Internal Affairs and manages a program financed by the World Bank, a program for the development of the Romanian village.