Corruption must become a concern for the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), through fully constitutional mechanisms, very clearly defined from a legal standpoint, President Nicusor Dan said on Tuesday.

'The phenomenon of corruption must be confronted head-on! This scourge, which affects society, must become a concern for the Romanian Intelligence Service, through fully constitutional mechanisms, very clearly defined from a legal standpoint,' the head of state wrote on X.

Nicusor Dan announced on Monday, in an interview with www.stirileprotv.ro, that the National Defence Strategy of the country is almost complete and will include 'two major changes' for Romania. According to him, the document will go through the Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT) before being sent to Parliament. 'So, the 26 November deadline, which marks six months since my inauguration as president, will be met,' he said.

The president specified that the major changes concern hybrid warfare and tackling corruption head-on.

'One - we need to pay much closer attention to what is called hybrid warfare, that is, cyber-attacks, systematic disinformation campaigns, influence in social media space by the Russian Federation, to put it precisely in these words. So, that is one part. The second, which I am very keen on and to which many institutions have submitted observations - tackling the corruption phenomenon head-on. (...) On the one hand, we want corruption to be a concern for the Romanian Intelligence Service. On the other hand, we want the mechanisms by which the Service addresses this phenomenon to be fully constitutional, and the distinction between intelligence services and the Prosecutor's Office to be very clearly defined,' President Dan said in the interview. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)