Romanian presidential hopeful Nicolae Ciucă releases promotional video for upcoming book

A promotional video for the book by Senate president and leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Nicolae Ciucă, titled In the Service of the Country, was released on Thursday, September 5.

The video shows scenes of the 26th Infantry Battalion "Neagoe Basarab" deployed in Afghanistan, and Nicolae Ciucă, at the time a lieutenant colonel, commanding the infantry battalion on a mission in Iraq in 2004.

In the video, Ciucă, a retired general, recounts a mission where "there was a rain of AG-7 rocket-propelled grenades, more than 24 strikes," with one coming dangerously close to the vehicle that carried him.

The video also features images of famed Romanian director Sergiu Nicolaescu, who died in 2013, speaking about the soldiers' missions. "They are writing pages of history for Romania," he says, commending their training and equipment. The appearance sparked debates online, with critics saying that Ciucă was using the image of the director to promote himself.

Additionally, other moments from Nicolae Ciucă's career are shown, the video concluding with the cover of his book,In the Service of the Country, which will soon be available on the dedicated website.

Nicolae Ciucă said that the issue of his upcoming book was used by other presidential candidates, especially PNL's governing coalition partners, the Social Democrat, or PSD, to attack him.

"The book was not intended to be a bestseller; I don't expect a literature prize because that's not what it's about," Nicolae Ciucă said on Wednesday evening.

The PNL president stated that the book is "a testimony and a confession" of his life and deeds, according to News.ro.

An investigation published by journalists at Snoop.ro revealed, based on official data from PNL, that the party allocated EUR 4 million to promote the - still unreleased - book by Nicolae Ciucă. In Romania, parliamentary political parties receive financing from the state budget.

The book was initially set to launch in June, but the event was postponed to a later date, probably this month.