Ion Țiriac, the prominent Romanian businessman, billionaire and former tennis player, has sparked significant controversy in Romania with his recent statements regarding NATO and military bases.
In a video released on September 29, 2024, while in a podcast at one of the Romanian sports magazines (Gazeta Sporturilor) Țiriac asserted that Romania does not need NATO or military bases, emphasizing instead the importance of investing in health care and education for the country.
He expressed that the focus should be on improving the well-being of Romanian citizens rather than on military expansion or alliances.
To my astonishment, (financing sports) it doesn’t cost, as the English say, an arm and a leg. Not! It costs much less than the military budget for a month. All sports! Not sports, but sports, education, health. I mean children, children. With that one-month budget…
I don’t want war, I don’t need NATO, I don’t need a military base, I don’t need anything. I need a healthy people.
And I don’t have it anymore because I don’t invest low, low, in seedlings. I don’t invest there. I want to raise the 500 sports kindergartens again; I would like to raise sports in the villages again if you want. Let something come to me, let something come to me as a number, to be able to choose too…
Ion Țiriac on NATO
His comments have generated intense reactions across various sectors of society, reflecting a divide in opinions about national security and priorities. Many have interpreted his remarks as challenging conventional views on defence and international alliances, particularly given Romania’s strategic position in Eastern Europe amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.
Yet, as a former sportsman and a man still close to sports, Ion Țiriac has all the reasons to consider sports before any other military objectives. He recently offered a car to all Romanians who won a medal at the Paris Olympics 2024, a gesture made by a former tennis glory who proved to love the sport more than any public authority or Government.
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