Was the head of French espionage in Romania or not or not? SIE and SRI response

The Foreign Intelligence Service (SIE) announced that the head of the French Foreign Intelligence Service, Nicolas Lerner, was not present in Romania before the second round of the presidential election.

The reaction came after the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (Gold) asked the SRI and SIE control committees to check the reason for Lerner’s visit to Romania.

« Following the continuous carriage in the public space of the information according to which the head of the French Foreign Intelligence Service, Mr. Nicolas Lerner, would have paid a visit to Romania, a few days before the second round of the presidential elections, to ensure the correct information of the citizens, we mention that such a visit has not been transmitted. »

The information according to which Nicolas Lerner, the director of the France’s Foreign Intelligence Service (DGSE), would have paid a visit to Romania this year are ‘false’ and represents ‘a form of misinformation’, the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) also states in the response to the deputy Eugen Bejinariu, the president of the resort commission.

The permanent joint commission of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate for the exercise of the parliamentary control over the activity of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) received an official response from the SRI management, as a result of an request made by the Parliamentary Group of Gold, through its representative in the Commission, the deputy Fabian-Cristian Radu.

‘The request aimed at clarifying some information published in the public space regarding an alleged visit to Romania by Nicolas Lerner, the director of the General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), the France’s Foreign Intelligence Service. In the transmitted response, the SRI states that the information conveyed is false and represents a form of misinformation, stressing that no visit of the French official has taken place in Romania in 2025. In the context of this request, during the deepening discussions, the Commission emphasized that the International Cooperation Activities of the SRI will be carried out in accordance with the Law, inform the website of the Chamber of Deputies.