Translated material
The President submitted to parliament
Romania chooses good relations with Russia
The political crisis in Romania is partially over. President Traian Basescu signed a decree appointing members of the new government. Or rather, he was forced to do it. The delicacy of the situation is that the head of state does not recognize the legitimacy of the cabinet. Just the day before, he said that he would not lay down his arms in the fight against the government, “standing guard over the oligarchic and corrupt regime.”However, the president submitted to the will of parliament, which two days earlier overwhelmingly approved the new composition of the cabinet. What caused Basescu's anger? The fact is that all ministers from the pro-presidential Democratic Party (DP) have been removed from the government. Until now, this party, together with the National Liberal Party, formed the ruling “orange” alliance “Justice and Truth”, which won the 2004 elections. In the new cabinet of the “minimal minority”, as it is called, only liberals and representatives of the Hungarian minority party remained, but the program, in principle, is the same - vigorous integration into the European Union.
Liberal Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu took such a decisive step to reform the government after the alliance practically collapsed. Controversies and scandals between liberals and democrats blocked the work of ministries. Thus, Democratic ministers sabotaged the Prime Minister’s decision to postpone the elections of members of the European Parliament to the fall.
According to the prime minister, the president himself systematically undermined confidence in his cabinet, trying to provoke early parliamentary elections in order to ensure a more solid majority in parliament and, possibly, the dominance of the Democratic Party, whose leader Basescu was before his presidency. Now it will be easier for liberals (and they have 13 out of 17 portfolios) to pursue their more pro-European rather than pro-American (like the president’s) foreign policy course.
Perhaps the situation in the Russian direction will move from a dead point. Well-known Romanian political observer Corneliu Vlad told Vremya Novostei: “The Prime Minister, the Minister of Economy and Finance, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated their dissatisfaction with the level and quality of these relations. They believe that Romania's disadvantage when it comes to energy imports from Russia is the result of poor political relations between the two countries." According to Economy Minister Varuzhan Vosganian, Romania has not normalized relations with Russia and is therefore paying more for energy imports. He spoke in favor of direct partnership with Russia and the creation of a joint venture by Gazprom and Romgaz.
Prime Minister Tariceanu, who replaced the “Bucharest-London-Washington axis” (proclaimed by President Basescu - Ed. ) with the “Bucharest-EU axis”, announced that the European direction is the most important for Romania, and “relations with Russia no less important." In Bucharest they are already talking about Tariceanu's upcoming visit to Moscow in the near future. The Prime Minister's intention to withdraw Romanian troops from Iraq, which President Basescu opposes, as well as the fact that Romania was not included in the American missile shield scheme in Europe, create favorable political preconditions for this visit, which will be primarily economic in nature. The new head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Adrian Cioroianu, proclaims himself “a supporter of fair and balanced relations” with Russia, which is “in our closest neighborhood.”
But the crisis cannot be considered completely overcome. A parliamentary vote of confidence in the new cabinet would have been impossible without the support of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP), which has its own war with the president. The PSD has already begun impeachment proceedings against Basescu, supported by two other opposition parties - “Greater Romania” and the Conservative. A report from a parliamentary commission was sent to the constitutional court, accusing the president of interfering with justice and even committing criminal offenses.
A vote on suspending the powers of the head of state is expected in parliament in the middle of the month, and then a referendum within 30 days. True, the Constitutional Court rejected the referendum scheme proposed by the opposition, when the president could be removed from power only by a simple majority of votes of those who took part in the vote. Removal from office will take place if more than half of all voters vote for him, and this makes the whole idea of impeachment problematic due to the possible low turnout.