President-elect Traian Basescu said the Cozma pardon demonstrates "how low the institutions headed by those who signed the pardon [Iliescu and Nastase] sank under their leadership". PNL Chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said the pardon was a "clear political decision" that shows that Iliescu "remains an old Bolshevik, influenced by his communist past and displaying contempt for the justice system and state institutions."
