President Nicușor Dan has defended his decision to ban investigative journalist Ovidiu Vanghele from press conferences at Cotroceni Palace. Speaking during a visit to Ireland on Thursday, November 12, the Romanian leader said the measure was prompted by an attack on both his personal dignity and that of his office.
“I am not a piece of garbage,” Dan said at a press conference. “As a person, I have the right not to engage in dialogue with someone who does not respect me.”
He further argued that the issue extended beyond him personally because, in symbolic terms, he headed Romania’s state apparatus, which includes police officers, teachers, healthcare workers, civil servants, and judges.
“I cannot accept that any of these people who work for the Romanian state can be treated like garbage by a citizen of this state,” he stated. “It is a form of disrespect toward the state itself and the authority of the Romanian state.”
Moreover, Nicușor Dan added that citizens had democratic means of challenging public officials, including protests, lawsuits, and criminal complaints.
He then argued that verbal violence could lead to physical violence and that public discourse had to be protected from such conduct.
“What will a child understand if a citizen can refer to the country’s president as garbage?” he asked. “They may understand that they can behave the same way toward their teacher or parent, and perhaps tomorrow hit them over the head with something.”
Asked whether excluding Ovidiu Vanghele was compatible with press freedom, president Dan pointed to his record of answering questions from journalists.
“I am at a press conference right now, answering all your questions and those of your colleagues,” he said. “I have held around one hundred of them during this term. I think that is the answer.”
The president also maintained that the decision was not based on the journalist’s opinions. He said Vanghele’s posts amounted to “an attack on the dignity of the person and the dignity of the office.”
Moreover, the official explained that he had read the journalist’s comments while reviewing public reactions to his April 2026 appointments of chief prosecutors.
“I read in detail what was written during those days, and that is how I came across what Mr. Vanghele had written,” Dan stated. “I decided that we had nothing more to do together.
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Meanwhile, in an interview on a Pagina de Media podcast later on Thursday, Ovidiu Vanghele acknowledged that he had called Nicușor Dan “garbage” in a social media post published in April.
“Yes, I did that,” the journalist said. “I chose my words very, very poorly in that context, and I apologize for it.”
“I have no problem doing so. I think it is a matter of civility to reconsider something harsh and offensive when someone tells you they experienced it that way,” he added.
Ovidiu Vanghele also said this was the first time the president had specified which of his public comments he considered insulting. He mentioned that he had written the comments about president Dan publicly but had never addressed them directly to him.
The journalist linked the post to Nicușor Dan’s appointment of several chief prosecutors, including Romania’s prosecutor general, whom Vanghele considered unsuitable for the position.
“At the personal, human level, he has every right” to react, Vanghele stated.
He added that the Presidential Administration had allowed him to attend Tuesday’s press conference after completing the required accreditation procedure.
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What happened
The dispute began during a press conference on Tuesday, November 10, when Ovidiu Vanghele asked the president about prosecutor general Cristina Chiriac and a vote she had cast in the prosecutors’ section of the Superior Council of Magistracy.
Instead of answering the question, Nicușor Dan informed Vanghele that he had previously ordered staff to prevent him from attending Cotroceni press conferences during his presidential term.
“Given the insults you have directed at me, I ordered that you no longer attend press conferences at Cotroceni Palace during this term,” Dan told him. “My merciful colleagues ignored my order.”
The decision prompted criticism from journalists, civil society organizations, and politicians.
For example, more than 50 Romanian newsrooms and nongovernmental organizations, including the Center for Independent Journalism, ActiveWatch, APADOR-CH, and Recorder, subsequently asked president Dan to reverse it. In an open letter published by ActiveWatch, the signatories described the ban as a direct threat to press freedom and the public’s constitutional right to access information of public interest.
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