The caretaker director of the Agency of Monument Inspection and Restoration Ion Ștefăniță was persuaded to give up going on hunger strike. Contacted by IPN for a comment, he said he is waiting for the Ministry of Culture’s reaction to the pressure about which he complained.
Ion Ștefăniță said he responded to a number informational reports receive from the Ministry following a site visit and, respectively, the inspection started at the Agency of Monument Inspection and Restoration on November 1. “Since then, their inspectors haven’t shown up. […] Now I’m waiting for the Ministry’s reaction,” he stated.
Last week, Ion Ștefăniță complained about pressure exerted on the Agency and on him and said that if this is not stopped, he will go on hunger strike right in his office. He told then IPN that the pressure is put by superiors in concert with the Ministry of Culture and ex-minister Liliana Nicolaescu Onofrei with the aim of removing him from his post. He also said that the process of coordinating permissive documents for construction works has been blocked for three months as the new composition of the National Council of Historical Monuments hasn’t been yet elected following the disbandment of the Council in August.
