Romanian coalition candidate Crin Antonescu denies collaborating with communist-era political police

Crin Antonescu, the presidential candidate of the PSD-PNL-UDMR governing coalition, denied being a collaborator of the communist-era political police, the Securitate, in a press conference on Tuesday, April 15. The conference was called after the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives (CNSAS) announced that, in 1988, Antonescu gave a statement to the Securitate about a close friend.

According to the CNSAS report, Crin Antonescu gave a statement to the Securitate in 1988 about a fellow teacher from the Niculiţel General School in Tulcea County.

However, CNSAS specified, as part of the announcement, that Antonescu cannot be considered a collaborator of the Securitate solely from that statement.

"I was never, under any form, a collaborator of the Securitate, much less involved in political policing. In fact, I had no relationship with the Securitate other than being under surveillance," Crin Antonescu said on Tuesday in the press conference, cited by News.ro.

The candidate noted that a friend of his went to Bulgaria, also a communist country, in 1987, and that from there he tried to flee to Austria. Antonescu’s friend failed in his attempt and was later brought back to Romania.

“Before leaving, he left some personal items for three or four very close friends. All three of us, because he left the items labeled with names, were summoned as persons under surveillance by the Securitate to give statements. I also showed up as a person under surveillance. I gave a statement in which I offered no special information other than that I was friends with the respective person, that I knew he was going on a trip to Bulgaria, that I didn’t know his intentions, which was true, and nothing more," stated Antonescu.

Further on, Crin Antonescu explained that the following year his friend managed to flee the country and that he was the only one who knew about it. The man crossed into Yugoslavia, stayed in a refugee camp for a while and then left for Canada, where he lives to this day.

“Not only did I obviously not provide any information to the Securitate, but I took on this risk, and after the time we agreed upon, two or three weeks, I informed his parents that he had in fact left the country and was not coming back, and that’s all," Antonescu stated.

Ştefan Costache, the Romanian man in question,