'Angus Reid': Romania's unnecessary vote to impeach popular President Basescu (Apr 30, 2007)

Apr 30, 2007 (Angus Reid Global Monitor)

The country hold a referendum on the president's impeachment that is most likely to result in his reinstatement, reads an analysis by Gabriela Perdomo for ‘Angus Reid Global Monitor’, on March 29.

“Romanian president Traian Basescu is temporarily out of office following a move to suspend him endorsed by the country’s lawmakers this month. Voters will go to the polls on May 19 to either confirm or reject his suspension in an unusual referendum approved by the Cabinet.

Basescu, who is considered Romania’s most popular politician, is highly likely to garner enough support to return to his job. The question is not whether he will stay as president of Romania, but whether the government of this new European Union (EU) member will come out of its current paralysis after this vote. And there are no signs it will.

Basescu and Romanian prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu have fought a shameful battle of words since January that finally brought the government to the current stalemate. Earlier this year, Basescu voiced general accusations of corruption against lawmakers and criticized Romania’s legal system for lacking independence when investigating cases of graft. He also chided the government for failing to implement anti-corruption legislation and reforms to the criminal code that are necessary for the country to become a full member of the EU, which Romania entered officially on the first day of this year.

Tariceanu did not take it well. The president’s role in Romania is exclusively limited to overseeing matters of national security and foreign affairs, and Tariceanu considered Basescu was abusing his power and undermining the government by meddling in domestic issues. The stand-off caused a split in the ruling coalition government of Tariceanu’s National Liberal Party (PNL) and Basescu’s Democratic Party (PD)—which contested the last parliamentary election under the Alliance for Justice and Truth (DA) banner. By April, the Liberals had allied with the opposition and decided to fire eight cabinet ministers loyal to Basescu, including former justice minister Monica Macovei, who is considered a reformist and was a key factor in Romania’s success in joining the EU.

The Liberal legislators also garnered enough support to suspend the president over charges of abuse of power in a 322-108 vote. The Constitutional Court declared the lawmakers’ arguments against Basescu were not enough to suspend him, but their ruling was non-binding. The Parliament finally decided it would call for the people of Romania to decide whether the president should stay or leave through a national referendum. An interim head of state, former prime minister Nicolae Vacaroiu, has been sworn in for now.

Basescu’s odds to stay are high, since more than half of the country’s 18 million eligible voters would have to cast a ballot in favour of his impeachment to keep him out, and Romania has historically been infamous for low turnout rates. Besides, the animosity against the president seems to live only within the government buildings. Basescu is the country’s most popular politician. Thousands of people gathered in front of Parliament in Bucharest to protests against his suspension.

Basescu became president in December 2004, garnering 51.23 per cent of the vote in a run-off against Adrian Nastase of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). He later appointed Tariceanu as prime minister. The Liberal-Democrat alliance worked relatively well together, and led the country’s successful EU bid. Along with Bulgaria, Romania was the most recent Eastern European nation to adhere to the group. Right after Romania joined, the internal problems in the alliance became obvious.

Basescu and his most notable aide to the eyes of the EU, former minister Macovei, are seen as internationalists and reformists. Macovei was responsible for introducing anti-graft legislation that was indispensable for EU accession. In order to enjoy the full benefits of EU membership, Romania—which is the most corrupt of all Eastern European countries according to Transparency International—has yet to reform other sections of the criminal code.

The president and Macovei sustain that the move against Basescu is partly sponsored by members of parliament who are being investigated for corruption and fear that new and tougher laws would affect them personally. Truth or not, in any case it does seem like politicians loyal to prime minister Tariceanu are not too keen on pushing any more reforms in order to comply with EU standards. Furthermore, there seems to be a growing antipathy towards the EU within some sectors of the government. Tudor Chiuariu, who replaced Macovei as justice minister, said in his inauguration speech: "I care about the needs of the citizens, not about pleasing Brussels and getting nice phrases in the monitoring reports."

The government’s agenda was supposed to focus on pushing such reforms in order to gain all the economic and trade benefits that come with EU membership. People in Romania appear to favour both the reforms and the membership. But sadly, even after Basescu survives the useless upcoming vote, the legislature will still likely be paralyzed until new elections are called.”



By Gabriela Perdomo, for Angus Reid Global Monitor