The general manager of Romanian public broadcasting company SRTv was appointed on other criteria than those of competence and political neutrality, Romanian President states in a letter addressed to the speakers of the two Parliament chambers on Tuesday.

The appointment, he says, was the object of a political deal between the governing Liberals (PNL) and the main opposition party in Romania, the Social Democrats (PSD).

A day after the joint Culture commissions in the Romanian Parliament gave their votes for PSD candidate Alexandru Sassu to manage the television, Basescu says that his validation was the result of an arrangement and it constitutes a negative signal in what concerns the television’s non-political affiliation.

Both commissions rejected, Monday, the Presidency’s proposed representative in the television’s board, Catalin Avramescu. Avramescu won 4 votes for, 5 abstains and 10 against. However, Alexandru Lazescu, the candidate for the Democratic Party (PD), the main political supporters of President Basescu, was approved for a seat in the board.

Likewise, MPs voted for Alexandru Sassu as the new general director of the national television, with 16 votes for and 3 abstentions.

Responding to the challenge launched by Basescu, House speaker Bodgan Olteanu, a Liberal, says that the President likes intellectuals as he uses them, alluding to the fact that his proposed candidate, Avramescu, has an academic background.