The risk of being the champion of integrity in politics / How USR raised the bar and what happened when it fell under it: the case of Clotilde Armand

The accusations made by the National Integrity Agency (ANI) against the mayor of Sector 1, Clotilde Armand, are a blow to the PSD’s political opponents (it was the PSD that filed the complaint), not only to the person in question but also to the image of the USR, which was built almost entirely on the message: we are the champions of integrity, everyone else is corrupt.

This a very good message as long as the party has been in opposition and its people have not exercised power for a single day, but a very risky one since the USR came to power, governed for nine months, and for two years has had people in the local administration who allocate and partake in budgets.

The USR’s radicalism has been even more unwise, with its categorical stance against political opponents, of which they have demanded harsh measures at every investigation launched against a PNL or PSD mayor or dignitary, or even at the mere suspicion raised in the public arena by a journalistic investigation: suspension, exclusion from the party, removal from the lists, in short, categorical demarcations before a court ruling is handed down.

The USR’s radicalism is today coming back in full force to haunt the party. The ANI accuses Clotilde Armand of conflict of interest, because she appointed herself manager of a project with European funds and issued five provisions from which she would have benefited from a 30% salary increase, distinct from the 25% that the law grants to mayors who implement projects with European funds.

Her case has been referred to the High Court Prosecutor’s Office. In response, Mayor Clotilde Armand says she has respected the law and has chosen as her public defense strategy to behave exactly like a PNL or PSD politician: attacking the ANI, playing victim, and releasing recordings of agency officials who say nothing. Incidentally, the USR leaders’ mania for recording everything that moves does not look good either. No one will ever sit down with them again without fear that everything they discuss will at some point end up in the public arena.

The USR and its leaders are creating a shield around Mayor Cotilde Armand, justifying, explaining, attacking the institution, and proclaiming her innocence. This was the signal from the top of the party, given by party president Cătălin Drulă. The head of USR Bucharest, Vlad Voiculescu, also took the same position. It seems that this is how the PNL and the PSD behave, not the champions of integrity, those who have assiduously promoted the campaign „No criminals in public office” turning it into the only banner of the USR.

This is a disappointing reaction from a party that promised and claimed other, somewhat higher political standards. Disappointing reaction from Mayor Clotilde Armand, who does not understand that in such situations there is only one thing left for her to do: To prove her innocence in court, to behave decently and with a little more respect towards the institutions, be it ANI or the Public Prosecutor’s Office. You can’t validate their work or invoke their arguments when the institutions question your opponents, but tarnish them the moment they get to question you. It’s called double talk, double standards or, if you like, political hypocrisy.

Of course, in the face of blatant institutional abuse, the situation changes. Politicians have every right to publicly denounce and defend themselves from such acts. But in the case of ANI-Clotilde Armand we have no indication of any institutional abuse: a complaint made by the PSD has turned into a conflict of interest file, with sufficient indications that Mayor Armand has a problem that she will have to solve in court, I stress, in front of judges, not on television.

It is very likely that other similar cases will follow, for the simple reason that USR mayors have been in office for two years, have managed budgets, signed contracts, and other party leaders have done the same while serving as ministers. Is this how they will react every time should they also end up under investigation by prosecutors or other institutions checking the integrity of mayors or dignitaries? Have they not understood either, those of the new generation, that a politician who comes before the courts must be left alone, to solve his problems on his own, without the shield of the party and without lawyers in the public arena?

If they don’t understand this, they will lose much more in terms of trust than the PNL or the PSD, whose public expectations are infinitely lower. The USR has raised the bar of integrity in politics very high, which is no a bad thing in a country plagued by corruption, but they in turn are now being called upon to live up to the standards that they alone have set for themselves in the public arena.

Otherwise, it will be more difficult for the USR to resume campaigning in 2024 on the „No criminals in public office” campaign, to make a difference and to come before their voters, with higher and more volatile demands than other types of the electorate, with a credible offer. Predictably, the PSD and PNL will try to destroy the USR by trying to show that there are no champions of integrity in politics and that everyone is more or less the same.

Translated article