Conservative Party Stays In Government On Condition Its Demands Are Met

The collective leadership, or National Council, of the Conservative Party, junior member in the four-party ruling coalition, decided Sunday to continue to stay in office.

The council voted 332 for, and 23 against the decision to leave its partners; however, the conservatives agreed would opt out of government in six months if its partners would not comply with a set of requirements. It also nominated Bogdan Pascu as the party’s candidate for deputy-PM.

The requirements set forth by the conservatives to their coalition partners were to renegotiate the political protocol founding the ruling coalition; to make the coalition work at local level too; and to support the draft laws advanced by the conservatives.

The list of laws or amendments to existing laws conservatives want passed in Parliament aim to confiscate wealth amassed illegally by individuals; to lower the VAT for food products at 9% from the current 19%; to give tax breaks for reinvested profit and tax micro-enterprises with 1.5%, not the 16% planned in a Government amended Fiscal Code; to adopt a winner-takes-all electoral system and assign local representation for Romanians in communities where they are an ethnic minority; and to amend the public pension system.

Conservative Party leader Dan Voiculescu voiced in his speech some of the issues which make his party want to part with its political partners.

They are "excessively arrogant" and "have total disregard for the laws conservatives want passed in Parliament;" while they "take for granted the conservatives’ votes supporting their political initiatives," said he.

"When we want our draft laws adopted we suddenly turn to them into a petty, immoral, and insignificant party." Voiculescu said. He also confirmed that he talked with "all the important decision-makers in Romanian politics," when asked if he consulted PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu on the decision to opt out of government. As for the reactions to the conservatives’ decision prompted, Emil Boc, leader of the Democrat Party, senior member in the ruling coalition, said the conservatives took public office positions in government in areas they should not have.

He also dismissed the conservatives’ meeting as a photo-op and media spin opportunity, and rejected their idea for the coalition protocol to be renegotiated. "It is no time to give the coalition ultimatum; the latter has other priorities," said Boc.

"It is not a serious thing to set long term ultimatums to those you are governing with," commented Teodor Melescanu, deputy-president of the National Liberal Party, the other senior member in the ruling coalition. He commended though the conservatives’ decision to stay in government.

Bela Marko, leader of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, the other junior member in the ruling coalition, agreed with the conservatives’ proposal for the coalition protocol to be renegotiated, particularly since they did not get involved in its drafting, Marko said.

Mircea Geoana, president of the Social Democrat Party, in opposition, dismissed the conservatives’ meeting and decision as "much ado about nothing. The ruling coalition was founded on lies and deceit, and its life came to an end," said Geoana.

Lucian Bolcas, deputy president with the Greater Romania Party, also in opposition, said the Conservative Party’s decision to stay in government further undermined the credibility of the ruling coalition. "It will last less than six months," said Bolcas.

Translated by Anca Paduraru