Who is Dan Nica, picked as Romania's new nominee for European Commission

Romanian PM Viorica Dancila’s new pick as a candidate for the European Commission, to replace Rovana Plumb after her rejection in the EP, is also a controversial political character. Dan Nica, a former minister of Communication, has been accused of abuse in office, but got away without prosecution. He was also involved in other scandals and falsely stated in the European Parliament that 98% of people indicted for corruption charges in Romania have been acquitted.

Dan Nica served as Communications minister in the Social Democratic government led by Adrian Nastase in the early 2000’s, which was seen one of the most non-democratic governments in post-Communist Romania. For his performance as minister in that government he was later accused of abuse in office in a major corruption case related to Microsoft, but he dodged an indictment as the terms for legal actions came and passed.

Dan Nica later served as Interior minister in a government led by Democrat Emil Boc but was dismissed due to his accusations that elections were subject of fraud. His dismissal prompted the political crisis of 2009, when the Boc Government was ousted in a censure motion but later reinstated after the presidential elections that year.

Dan Nica was also targeted in a corruption case related to an EADS contract for border security, a case which was also closed.

• In the Microsoft case. he and other government representatives were accused for their roles in a commercial Microsoft licensing contract between the Government and Fujitsu Siemens Computers. They were accused of abuse in office in the case, where prosecutors estimated a prejudice of close to USD67 million for the Romanian state.

• In 2009, he was reshuffled in the Boc Government after claiming that electoral fraud was planned in presidential elections that year.

• In the EADS case, he and two other ministers were accused in relation to a USD750 million for securing the country borders. Investigations led to suspicions that in that case Romanian officials received bribes in order to award the contract to EADS. The case was closed in late 2018 as criminal law in Romania was facing major changes pushed by the PSD-led governing coalition.

Dan Nica later served as member of the European Parliament. In October 2018, during debates there over the rule of law in Romania, Dan Nica lied by claiming in his speech that 98% of people who had been sent to court under corruption charges had been acquitted. A report by the DNA anti-corruption prosecutor’s office said said that the acquittal rate stood at 10% in 2017, below the European average, with a similar percentage in 2016.