Suddenly made visible for strange, Byzantine reasons, Costica Argint is the top of a situation the officials of post-revolutionary Romania have been struggling to hide under the mat, just like some lazy housemaid. As far as we know, the true problem, the most difficult problem is that Costica Argint is just one of the many Romanian criminals who asked for and very easily obtained status as political refugee. There were smart and well informed guys who complained to various ministries of foreign affairs about the dramatic daily life in Romania, coordinated by the police breaking human rights. The police would commit even more severe such breaks against the rights of the Roma minority. And the legend has survived since Romania has been an abundant source of reports on authorities' inhuman treatment of the Roma community. Every year the reports ordered by the European Commission and authored by the Romanian experts working for Mr. Sorors's Open Society would show the Romanian administration's tragic carelessness about an appropriate, European approach to the issue. So they believed the story told by "victim" Costica Argint, just as they believed the story told by an "innocent victim" like Gregorian Bivolaru. And there are many more, blindly welcomed by the authorities of Italy or Sweden. There are very many such cases. You can meet them everywhere in Europe: some superior guys or the reliable soldier crouching in a street corner and begging in any EU official language to become a political refugee of Romania. Costica Argint himself admits that Romanian authorities know him very well and that he has got no problem at such level. There is an international warrant against him, but this works for fools, for impressing public opinion, which must see the authorities overworking to support citizens. In fact, the same authorities, gracefully represented in Rome at citizens' expense, welcome the criminal respectfully, due to his other status: an authorized representative of the Roma-origin Romanians in Italy. Therefore the boss of Romulus Mailat. When the diplomats, either stupid or corrupted, were there, there occurred a surrealist scene: a criminal told his country's foreign minister that he forgave him for the foolish things the official had said. But the guy didn't go there unprepared. He did it after announcing the Italian police that he might be kidnapped by Romania's murderous authorities. If he was absent for more than to hours, he warned them, they should enter the embassy and grab him out so that he would be free again. Apart from disregarding a small detail such as the fact that the Academia di Romania is a Romanian territory obeying the extra-territorial norms ruling on any diplomacy offices, the statement of Costica Argint is more than relevant. He transferred the security protocol used for any meeting of mafia groups under hostile circumstances onto an event attended by Romanian diplomats and officials, together with representatives of the Protection Service, the Foreign Intelligence Department and the Interior Ministry of Romania. Actually, there were represented all the allegedly professional services and agencies we pay for. For years on end they have been headed by some officials who should be watched by the Interpol themselves. It is just that to be stupid or incompetent is not a crime. Moreover, it is the reason why the party appoints you a minister and the President validates you laughingly...

Cristian UNTEANU