The former president Traian Băsescu declared, on Wednesday, that he met the prime minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, they were colleagues in the European Council, only that even though he was from the left then, he was “much less sovereignist than he is now”. The former head of state believes that the armed attack on the prime minister in Bratislava was carried out by an angry citizen.
Trăian Băsescu said that the attack on the Slovak prime minister can create a precedent Photo: Archive
“I met Fico. We were colleagues in the European Council for two or three years until he lost the elections in Slovakia. He was left-wing but much less sovereign than he is now. And it was as if he was much more attached to the values of the European Union then. What we need to see now is that this event was not a conspiracy or some special organization. He was a citizen who understood that, if he is sane, to take revenge on what happens to him in his daily life. If it's in all the mental faculties, if it's not a sick person, it's a sick person and that's it. But I tend to think it's an angry citizen.” said Trăian Băsescu at Digi 24.
The former president stated that “sovereignism, isolationism, exaggerated populism can only lead to what happened today“. “I would not want to be a prophet of a future in which we will see such events again, because from violence between citizens and state institutions of force it is only one step to violence between citizens and dignitaries who are considered by all to be the generator of violence that European citizens live every day”, added Traian Băsescu.
The former head of state believes that politicians can temper this wave of violence stating that “they generated it and they must quell it“.
“And the first objective is the elimination of this theory that replaces nationalist extremism, the theory of sovereignty. When you are in the European Union and you signed the accession treaty, there you gave up a good part of your sovereignty, you put it in the common pot of the EU. You come after 20 years to talk about sovereignty, this is ordinary demagoguery, which only leads to fooling the least informed and creates formidable tensions in society. Not only in Romanian society, but also in Slovak society, and in Czech society, and in Polish society, and in German society. So it is a coincidence or a phenomenon that swept Europe, the theory of sovereignty, which is a false theory valid for the future of Europe” said the former president, after being asked if politicians can also be the ones who temper this wave of violence.
Asked what he would advise those who are becoming followers of this type of discourse that he calls demagoguery, Trăian Băsescu replied that he could not recommend:just don't believe those who talk about sovereignty.”
Trăian Băsescu: Politicians can prevent this need for violence
Traian Băsescu said that “opoliticians can curb this need for violence,” noting that “it's almost a need for violence.” “We have no other way to explain the violence we see every day in Romania. We have no other way to explain drug use, which is becoming a way of life not only among the young generation, they run away from reality. Whether the reality is created by politicians, we have the obligation to take responsibility for the situation we have reached with the violence, with its results, and we can still set things right because in two or three years if we don't set things right now it will be too late”the former president added.
The former head of state emphasized that “the dangers of this phenomenon“consist including in the disintegration of the European Union, underlining the need for some measures.
“The danger in the medium and long term is that the whole European construction will collapse, the societies of the component countries of the Union will begin to break away from the EU, some of them, others will remain in a smaller union, if we do not take action now.
The measures must come from what the population can bear. The tension in the society is primarily due to the measures taken by governments in this transformation of our economies into clean economies, into green economies, this has generated economic violence, and hence the daily deprivations and this leads to street violence, and from street violence to violence against politicians is only one step”, the former president also said.
The prime minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, was shot on Wednesday after a government meeting in the town of Handlova, about 150 kilometers northeast of the capital.
Fico was first transported to a local hospital and then airlifted to a major trauma center in Banska Bystrica, about 30 kilometers away.
“There was an assassination attempt on R. Fico. He was shot multiple times and is currently in a life-threatening condition. The next few hours will be decisive”it is stated in a statement on the official Facebook page of the Slovak Prime Minister.
A suspect has been detained in this case.
