Ionel Palăr is serving his first term as CNA member, after 16 years in the Romanian Parliament, where he served between 2004 and 2020. He has no experience whatsoever when it comes to the press. Like many other politicians, he talks about values, family, and community during his electoral campaigns. His track record, however, reveals a political career ridden by poor results, while he seems to have accomplished quite a lot in his personal life, gathering some interesting, if limited, qualifications.
According to his resume, Palăr studied at the “Vasile Alecsandri” University in Bacău between 1991 and 1996, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in marketing. Around the same time, he got his first job as director of a Bucharest-based company between 1994 and 2001 (Mr Palăr informed us that he was actually responsible for a Bacău unit).
In 1996, he became an associate and managing director of several Bacău-based companies. None of those companies, however, had anything to do with audiovisual content or the press.
He became a politician at 33
At age 33, he became involved in politics, serving as County Councilor in Bacău and as a member of the Chamber of Deputies in Parliament. He switched parties 3 times in his career (Romanian People’s Party, 3 parties in the career (the Romanian People’s Party, Dan Voiculescu’s Humanist Party and the National Liberal Party), though only the latter still makes the resume.
It’s interesting to note that in 2004, shortly before being elected as deputy, he used to work as a marketing director for CET Bacău. It is unclear why a district heating company in a small town would need a marketing department. We do know that he used to earn 11.700 lei a month, which was a massive amount of money at the time and 4 times more than what he used to earn as an MP in 2005.
We also know that one of CET Bacău’s decommissioned district energy systems was rented out to a company named LUXOR in early 2005, which Mr. Palăr was and still is an associate of.
As MP, Mr Palăr managed to speak for a total of 8 minutes during his first term, missing 48% of Chamber of Deputies votes and only cowriting 11 law proposals that ended up being signed. That was all he could do in 4 years, between 2004 and 2008. In his spare time, however, he managed to get a master’s degree in Iași in 2007, 300 km (186 miles) and 4 hours away from Bucharest. He also graduated from the famous National Defense College in 2006 and the Romanian Diplomatic Institute in 2008.
At best, he actively participated in debates for 15 minutes a year
Even with this output, he made the National Liberal Party’s list for the parliamentary elections for 3 years in a row. With great difficulty, he managed to speak for more than an hour during meetings. If we only account for his MP paycheck (excluding accommodation, daily allowance, lump sums etc.), Mr. Palăr costed the Romanian people 9.200 lei/minute spoken during his most fruitful term (2016-2020).
Voters are free to decide how well their interests have been represented by an MP who would only actively participate in debates for 15 minutes a year.
Mr. Palăr ran for Head Judicial Councilor of Bacău county in 2020, as part of a National Liberal Party and Save Romania Union coalition (PNL-USR). He lost to the Social Democratic Party (PSD).
However, The National Liberal Party (PNL) made him head of the National Audiovisual Council (CNA). As a businessperson and politician, Mr. Palăris as fit for this position as a physicist would be as a miner.
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The third public figure who had to explain his resume
In a normal country, the National Audiovisual Council (CNA) would be led by professionals who have the proper experience and integrity for the job. In our “job well done” country, however, the former MP got his easy pickings.
Ionel Palăr is a symptom of a serious issue in Romanian politics: public institutions being saddled with people who don’t have the proper training or experience, but are able to pull the right strings due to their connections and party affiliation.
If we want to see less manipulation and propaganda on TV, we need to put pressure political parties and demand that professionals with integrity lead the National Audiovisual Council (CNA).
To clarify: Our research shows that essential information about politicians, such as certain details about their former employment or income statements. Following our research, we ask the person we’re investigating a set of questions.
Out of over 100 people we’ve investigated, Mr. Ionel Palăr is one of the few who chose to get back to us and only the third person who offered to set the record straight. This is a commendable gesture of normalcy, especially given the fact that Mr. Palăr was able to to clarify multiple things.
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