Romanian Democratic Party to get closer to European "Popular family"

(Initially published in www.romania-report.ro - Jun 25, 2005)


Bucharest, June 25 – Today, at an extraordinary national convention, Democratic Party (PD) opted for the Popular political doctrine.

Over 3,550 out of 4,000 PD delegates at the convention voted in favour of "Prosperous Romania, Democrat Romania" motion issued by interim leader Emil Boc.

As the motion passed, Boc was subsequently elected as PD president. Emil Boc said that Popular centrist approach is to replace party's former social-democrat doctrine, while party's name, anthem and logo are to remain unchanged.

As invited to attend the convention works, European People's Party (EPP) Secretary General Antonio Lopez said members of the European People's Party express openness to all political forces that share EPP's visions and values on Europe.

On Monday, PD leader Sorin Frunzaverde shall pay a visit to EPP HQ in Brussels in order to file the formal affiliation letter of intend. Frunzaverde stated for 'Realitatea TV' as addressing the new doctrine: "We are still to display an important social component in our programme, but we shall also include specific Popular themes such as subsidiarity, national values, personalism and so on."

[For those unfamiliar with these terms it is worth mentioning that according to EPP vision: 1) the principle of subsidiarity states that in areas of shared competence between the EU and the Member States, Community action is only justified if the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can be better achieved by the Community; 2) Christian Democracy, on the basis of its political tradition, seeks to appeal to what is "best", to the "constructive" aspect which exists in each human individual, and to give contemporary expression to the ideals of social Christian personalism.]

In the opening session of the convention, Romanian PM Calin Popescu-Tariceanu (Liberal) reiterated the idea of a near future merger between Democratic Party (PD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL).

Emil Boc later said to the press that the merger opportunity would be seriously assessed starting with July 8, once PD concludes its new leadership structure. In 2004, the PNL-PD "Justice and Truth" Alliance secured a surprise victory for Traian Basescu in country's presidential runoffs.


Romania Report