Romanian President Bans Journalist from Press Conferences for Term

President Nicușor Dan announced during a Tuesday press conference that journalist Ovidiu Vanghele will no longer be allowed to attend press conferences at Cotroceni Palace for the remainder of his term. The decision was communicated live to Vanghele during the event. The president compared the move to a similar decision made by former President Ion Iliescu's administration regarding the newspaper Evenimentul Zilei over 30 years ago.

The incident occurred at the end of a session lasting two and a half hours. Vanghele asked Dan to comment on Prosecutor General Cristina Chiriac's vote against a proposal for the CSM prosecutor section to request an investigation by the Judicial Inspectorate into an alleged interference by Chiriac herself.

“From this moment this garbage does not exist for me. A scoundrel.”

Dan began his response by apologizing for making the journalists wait. He then stated that, due to the insults directed at him, he had ordered that Vanghele not be allowed to attend press conferences at Cotroceni Palace during this mandate. He added that while his colleagues had bypassed his order, Vanghele would not return to ask questions.

Vanghele, initially a supporter of Dan's 2025 presidential candidacy on Facebook, has become a vocal critic of the president. Following the press conference, a Facebook post by Vanghele was shared by Libertatea, in which he called Dan an "unscrupulous president" and "garbage."

G4Media reported that Dan contradicted himself or lied on two major justice topics during the conference: journalist blacklists and cases involving judges who report abuses. The outlet noted that this was the president's second press conference of the year, the first having taken place in April.

Regarding judges who signal abuses, Dan claimed he had not seen any judge support their cause or file a case to prove they were wronged. When confronted with clear examples of sanctioned judges, he asked journalists for the names and case files so he could request them.

The president insisted that magistrates must prove they are right, stating he had not seen evidence of sanctions for opinion offenses. He argued that no debate can occur based solely on public statements.