Romanian actor and former theater manager gets green light to run for EP elections

A Bucharest court has given Romanian actor and former theater manager Mircea Diaconu the green light to run for a seat in the European Parliament, after the Central Electoral Office initially rejected his candidacy. Mircea Diaconu, former manager of the C.I. Nottara theater in Bucharest, appealed the electoral office's decision to reject his candidacy earlier this year. The Office argued Diaconu was found incompatible, as he was both a senator in the Romanian Parliament, and manager of the theater, and that he was no longer allowed to occupy an eligible position. A first court found that Diaconu should be able to run for the EP elections, as being an EP member was not 'an eligible position' – another Senator mandate would have been - but the National Integrity Agency and the Public Ministry appealed the decision. A second court found the same as the first, and the decision is final. Mircea Diaconu, a well known Romanian actor and former member of the National Liberal Party PNL, left the party in March, after the National Integrity Agency found him 'incompatible' for holding the Senator seat, while at the helm of the theater. Diaconu decided to run for the EP elections as an independent candidate, and managed to raise more than the needed number of signatures to do so: 125,000, above the needed threshold of 100,000. editor@romania-insider.com