Romanian President Nicușor Dan says he is 'satisfied to very satisfied' with prosecution offices, cites fewer drug incidents at festivals and renewed graft probes

A public endorsement in Paris

President Nicușor Dan used a press conference at the Romanian embassy in Paris to give a strong endorsement of the country’s prosecution services. He said he was “satisfied to very satisfied” and recalled that when he appointed the new chiefs of the three main offices in April, he had asked the public for six months to judge the results.

I recall that at the moment I appointed the heads of the three offices I said I invited society to wait six months to see the results. It seems to me that all three are moving very well.

The offices are the General Prosecutor’s Office (PICCJ), the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) and the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT).

DIICOT and the festival season

Dan highlighted the work of DIICOT, which he said had prevented drug-related incidents at summer music festivals for the first time in several years. “We are many parents. There were many festivals where in past years incidents linked to drug use appeared. This year we were fine,” he stated. The remark was seen as a concrete metric of progress, given public concern after incidents at large events in previous summers.

New anti-corruption cases at DNA

On the DNA, the president said that “important persons” had been investigated, though he gave no names. He praised the shift away from what he called an “alibi activity” based purely on case numbers, describing a new focus on high-impact files.

I think that on the prosecution offices we no longer see a hideout, an alibi activity that hides behind the number of files, but we see a concentration on important files, on themes that preoccupy society, and I think that is important.

Magistrates investigated after years of stasis

Turning to the General Prosecutor’s Office, Dan pointed to what he said were the first serious investigations of magistrates in a long time. He specifically referenced the case of Gigi Valentin Ștefan and Teodor Niță, two prosecutors from Constanța who are in preventive detention on charges of continuous influence peddling and incitement to abuse of office. These arrests, he argued, demonstrated a new willingness to pursue sensitive cases that had previously been avoided.

Reforms stalled by political turmoil

Dan admitted that broader justice reforms “should have been a concern” but were postponed because of the political crisis. After he signed the appointment decrees on 8 April, the government of Prime Minister Bolojan collapsed almost a month later, felled by a censure motion initiated by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). The subsequent failure to form a stable majority left justice reform plans, including a proposed referendum first discussed after December 2025 meetings with judges and prosecutors, in limbo.

I confess that it should have been a concern, but I postponed it because of the political crisis.