Politics 2 min read By Arthur Ellington
PSD Closes Gara de Nord Royal Salon to Public Again
The Social Democrats, who hold the Transport ministry, have closed the royal salon at Bucharest's Gara de Nord to the public again, weeks after it opened, drawing criticism from former state secretary Horațiu Cosma.
The royal salon at Bucharest's Gara de Nord railway station has been closed to the public again, a decision taken by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which controls the Transport ministry. Former state secretary Horațiu Cosma has publicly condemned the move, accusing the party of placing a lock on Romania's historic heritage.
The salon had been reopened to visitors only a few months earlier. Admission was free and the space was open every day, and according to reports, thousands of people passed through it. For decades the salon had been hidden from public view, and its displays include royal carpets that were reportedly saved during the communist period. The reopening therefore gave ordinary visitors their first regular access to a part of the station that had long been out of reach, and the number of people who came through in the months it was open suggested considerable public interest in the space.
Cosma criticised the decision in a post on Facebook, arguing that the closure restricts access to heritage in a manner he likened to communist-era practice. He said the salon should remain open to Romanians, presenting the question as one of public access to national history rather than of the building's operation. The current Transport minister is Ștefan-Ovidiu Popa, whose ministry sits within the PSD-led arrangement that made the decision, and Cosma's criticism is directed at the political party as much as at the specific measure.
The available information does not include an official statement from the ministry explaining the closure, and it is not stated how long the salon will remain shut to visitors. Nor is there a published justification for why the salon was closed a second time after its recent reopening. The reasons behind the decision therefore remain unconfirmed at the time of writing, and any further explanation from the ministry would be needed to clarify its intentions for the space.
Source: economedia.ro
8
