Romanian minister of culture resigns after criticizing HIV/AIDS program

Daniel Barbu resigned today as minister of culture, four days after stating that he can’t understand how the government spends on the national HIV/AIDS program half as much as it does for all the programs of the Ministry of Culture combined.

“During the debates for the 2014 budget I was surprised, I was truly shaken by the following fact. Trust me, I don’t want to appear cynical and I have all the respect for this category of our fellow citizens. The budget of the national program for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS represents half of all of the programs of the Ministry of Culture. So, there is the Ministry of Culture and the national program for preventing and treating HIV/AIDS. Half. One to two. In my opinion, this is not South Africa. There aren’t millions of our fellow citizens inflicted by this hideous disease of our times. I personally don’t understand. I was shaken by this when I realized how many Shakespeare Festivals we could hold in Craiova or how we could grow the festival, if we didn’t have this program or if it were cut to half,” said Barbu while in Craiova on Sunday, according to Mediafax.

The Ministry of Culture later issued a press release stating that the minister “profoundly regrets” the “unfortunate comparison” between the budget for HIV prevention and that of the Ministry of Culture and apologized to those “who felt offended by this inadequate statement”.

Barbu’s statement has stirred criticism, including from president Traian Basescu and Crin Antonescu, president of the Senate and the National Liberal Party (PNL) of which Barbu is a member. PM Victor Ponta said that his resignation will be sent to Basescu alongside a new nomination for the position.

Barbu has held the ministry of culture position since December last year. He is a professor of political science at the University of Bucharest. In 2012 he was elected senator (PNL). He previously served as counselor to then interim president Crin Antonescu for 20 days. He had served as state counselor once before, during the term of president Emil Constantinescu.

This is not for the first time that Barbu comes under media attention for his statements. In October Barbu told a group of protestors who were waiting for him outside an event in Bucharest’s Old Town that they were acting as neo-Nazis. Protestors were accusing him of supporting the Rosia Montana mining project.

Simona Bazavan