AUR presents the Cotroceni Stadium, an exhibit of the Museum of the Waste of Public Money

Mihai Enache, the AUR candidate for Bucharest City Hall, presented a new exhibit from the Museum of the Waste of Public Finance: the Cotroceni stadium, valued at tens of millions of euros and abandoned for 15 years.

They attended the inauguration Lydia Vadim Tudor, AUR candidate for District 5 City HallMonica Iagăr, European champion, and Oana Vulcan, president of the Sector 5 Women’s Organization.

“We are in the Park with Platani. Here are the Cotroceni Stadium, the sports fields and the central arenas of the BNR. Our tennis champions called them the House of Romanian Tennis. We are talking about an entire complex that is administered by the National Bank of Romania, an institution of the Romanian state, led by the eternal Mugur Isărescu. We are talking about a sports infrastructure that, with large investments, could become an exemplary stadium. It was inaugurated in 1995. Home matches of Progresului or FC Național were played here. 15 years have passed since the last football match was played at the stadium; 10 years have passed since the last tennis tournament was held on the BNR central arenas, where the great champion Simona Halep was among the participants. What happened all these years were just talks between the government and the NBR, some sterile talks, like many examples, they just pretend they want to find solutions. In fact, they are waiting, using various negotiations and tricks, for the time to pass so that at some point a well-paid technical expert will say that this stadium can no longer be used and must be demolished. The NBR a few months ago signed a contract for protocol food: caviar, expensive champagnes worth several million euros. All this time, Mugur Isărescu moved his employees to the stadium changing rooms, where the players had to change”, said Mihai Enache.

“This sports base, which today has become an exhibit of the museum of the Waste of Public Money, is under the administration of the National Bank of Romania. In 2016 and 2017, for UEFA matches, the issue of handing over this stadium was raised. From a legal point of view, the stadium was not surrendered because the BNR did not cede its share, and the owner of the land is the Confederation of Craftsmen from Romania, which asked for compensation, and the state was not able to provide this compensation because the stadium to be taught. Today, we are in a situation where this stadium does not work and is guarded by gendarmes”, said Monica Iagăr.

By presenting the exhibit, Mihai Enache emphasized the need to rehabilitate the Cotroceni stadium, highlighting the problem of its abandonment and neglect. In the absence of the possibility of financing from the BNR, the stadium must be returned to the Ministry of Sports for administration and rehabilitation so that Romanian sport can benefit from this stadium.