Constitutional crisis fuels conflict between Romanian President and PM (Jan 19, 2007)

Jan 19, 2007 (Romania Report)

Just weeks after joining EU, Romania faces constitutional crisis as a two years old dispute between President Traian Basescu and PM Calin Tariceanu emerged into a media and political scandal, ‘EU Business’ reports. Now, the Social-Democrats in opposition want Basescu impeached and the PM Tariceanu sacked – in which case the Social-Democrats would be able to impose a Prime Minister of their own.

Tensions escalated between the two leaders late Wednesday after Basescu disclosed a personal letter signed by Tariceanu, in which the prime minister asked the President to intervene with the prosecutor's office on behalf of his friend, Dinu Patriciu -- the CEO of oil company Rompetrol, charged with fraud, tax evasion and stock market manipulation.

Basescu made the letter public at a press conference on Wednesday evening, days after his former adviser first spoke of it on television, and pointed out that this was not the first time Tariceanu had tried to use his influence to protect Patriciu from prosecution.

"The prime minister suggested a partnership with the oligarchs to lean on the justice system, which was unacceptable to me," Basescu said, adding that this move had made him "lose confidence" in his prime minister.

Tariceanu counter-attacked on Wednesday, saying Basescu “is lying" and that he also "bounded by interest groups that control the public works in infrastructure."

But the media and political opponents were unconvinced and pointed out that, previously, Tariceanu had several times last week strongly denied the existence of such a letter.

"The poisoned letter was made public. Its author, Mr. Tariceanu, has compromised himself. He needs to resign," the daily Evenimentul Zilei wrote Thursday.

The newspaper Romania libera bid "Adieu" to the prime minister, "unmasked by the president."

And the opposition Social-Democrat party called for Tariceanu to resign, adding however that Basescu had also become an "accomplice" by initially concealing the Prime Minister's attempt to influence justice – thus he should be impeached and eventually suspended. Once such a procedure passes, would be very likely that the Social-Democrats place one of their own men on the Prime Minister chiar.

Political analyst Cristian Parvulescu estimated that "after the words they have had, cohabitation between Basescu and Tariceanu has become impossible."

"The president wants early elections, which could take place at the same time as European Parliament elections" on May 13, he added.

Basescu has long wanted early elections to ensure a stable majority for the centre-right alliance, made up of his Democrat Party and Tariceanu's National Liberal Party, which came to power in December 2004.

Although Tariceanu initially agreed to early elections, the PM later changed his mind in June 2005, fearing that his mandate might not be renewed. Actually, the PM’s refusal to agree on early polls triggered the long-standing conflict with President Basescu.

This week public escalation of Basescu-Tariceanu conflict smashed the Democrat-Liberal ruling alliance in Romania and seems to damage seriously Basescu’s popularity – as, until now, he enjoyed the large support of the country’s likely voters.

Instead, the opposition is beginning to gain momentum – The Social-Democrats (in disarray until now), the nationalist hardliners, and the conservatives started a ruthless media campaign against Basescu. In case Basescu does not have a wild card into his pocket, he is likely to lose all his chips on one hand.



Romania Report – also using material from ‘EU Business’