Former Romanian president Traian Basescu wrote in a Facebook post that the harsh criticism of the justice reform in Romania by Dutch politicians such as prime minister Mark Rutte and the European Commission’s first vice president Frans Timmermans is aimed at pressuring the Romanian authorities into awarding a major contract to a Dutch company.

He suggests that Dutch officials are blocking Romania’s Schengen accession so that Romania awards the EUR 1.6 billion contract for the construction of four multirole corvettes to Dutch group Damen.

To support his statement, Basescu referred to Dutch PM Mark Rutte’s visit to Bucharest in September, during which he expressed concerns about rule of law in Romania and said he didn’t agree with the Romanian government on the Schengen issue.

He also mentioned the report in which EC first vice president Frans Timmermans criticized Romania’s justice report during a debate in the European Parliament in early-October and the Venice Commission’s report on the changes to the criminal codes in Romania, for which the rapporteur was Dutchman Martin Kuijer.

Meanwhile, Basescu says that Dutch group Damen, which is being investigated for corruption, is expecting to get a EUR 1.6 billion contract from the Romanian state.

“I expect that the ‘too honest’ Mark Rutte and Frans Timmermans accuse Romania of corruption if the ‘criminally liable people’ (penali in Romanian) at Damen got the EUR 1.6 billion contract for the army,” Basescu wrote ironically adding that Romania should eliminate Damen from the competition if it wanted to get into Schengen.

Damen group, which has 35 shipyards worldwide, including one in Romania at Galati, also took over the management of the Mangalia shipyard, the biggest in Romania, earlier this year. The Romanian state holds 51% of the shipyard’s shares, after a deal with Damen, which owns the remaining 49%.

This is not the first time when Romanian politicians attack Dutch officials. The Dutch rhetoric on justice in Romania has also been linked in the past to the privatization or private management over the Constanta port.

editor@romania-insider.com