Former PNL president Crin Antonescu – one of the masters of the PSD-PNL coalition called the Social Liberal Union (USL), which has withdrawn from politics for many years – says that the presidential candidacy of former SRI chairman Eduard Helwig is “a hypothesis that should be taken before attention”.

Crin Antonescu, whose appearance in public space is very rare, made these statements in an interview with Gândul, answering questions about the possible candidacy of Eduard Helwig in the presidential elections.

“I don’t know if he will run, but I think it’s a hypothesis worth considering. First, I don’t know what he wants or doesn’t want,” Crean Antonescu said.

The former PNL leader, who suddenly disappeared from politics in 2014 when he resigned from the PNL leadership and the Senate and USL collapsed, continued to praise the former SRI chairman, who he said had “exceptional experience”.

“I only know that this is a person who has accumulated exceptional experience. This is a person whose principles, more or less respected, I do not know for sure… (…) I know them. I am very well. And he is a smart person. Now what does he want to do next…? And I also know that he is young (no – 48 years old). Do you know how young? If he was a judge, they would have dismissed him,” Antonescu Gandula told about Eduard Helwig, who was his personal adviser.

“Petrification in the office is not good”

Eduard Helwig announced on July 3 that he was resigning as director of the Romanian Intelligence Service, saying at the time that “being petrified in office is not good”:

• “In our country, it is a wrong custom that those who occupy positions of power do not leave them until the last, perhaps by force. Most of those who hold power do not relinquish it when they achieve their goals, for various reasons. I personally believe that such a step is necessary.
• This is, first of all, a gesture of democratic health, which I have unequivocally stated since the first year of my mandate. It is good for democracy, for the balance of power in the state, that the head of the special service has a limited term of office.
• Petrification in a position is not good, it can lead to setting wrong goals for the institution, to loss of contact with social reality, to confusion of the position with the person who occupies it. I don’t want that for myself or for an institution that is worth more than any director it’s ever had.”

Eduard Hellwig was appointed director of SRI in 2015. Hellwig is a close friend of President Klaus Iohannis, with whom he participated in the 2014 presidential campaign.

Helwig was also extremely close to former PNL president Crin Antonescu, even being his personal adviser, and before that he was a member of the PC. Hellwig worked for a company owned by Dan Michalache. Helvig has been a member of the European Parliament since 2013, having previously held the position of Minister of Development in the USL government. However, he resigned soon after his appointment, after ANI publicly reported that the leader had a conflict of interest.

The resignation of Eduard Helwig took place in the context of the fact that in 2024 European, local, parliamentary and presidential elections will be held in Romania. Eduard Hellving’s mandate would, as usual, end with that of President Klaus Iohannis.

Hellwig’s resignation has given rise to various scenarios and rumors in the political arena, according to which he would like to return to politics: either to return to the PNL or to create a new political formation.