Dangerous Escalade

For the first time since the start of the war between the Palaces, the PM has an instant reply to an attack from Cotroceni. Not a statement for the press, but an official press statement. Not a simple reply, but an attacking one.
The Victoria Palace was however improvised. Everyone saw that the PM and his advisers had been taken by surprise. This is what caused a few mistakes: the hardly controlled anger, the no-answers-to-the-press strategy, the request for a document which he had forgotten to receive. After the conference, the Prime Minister came to "Sinteza Zilei" (a TV show on Antena 3). This is the same show that hosted the disclosures of Elena Udrea.
The newspapers had finished editing their next day issues by the beginning hour of the show, 9 o’clock in the evening. If the intervention of Calin Popescu Tariceanu would have appeared earlier, the "Total War" expression would have had a more complex significance.
We can indeed say that after the hour of disclosures from Calin Popescu Tariceanu we can talk about an actual Total War.

The confrontation between the President and the PM was somewhat covered by a wall of appearances until now:
a) the reciprocal hits were applied with the help of intermediately interventions, especially when disclosures were involved.
b) the public hits had an unique direction: from Cotroceni to Victoria. Traian Basescu used to criticize the Government or used to suggest the involvement of the groups of interest. The PM preferred shutting up or giving equivocal answers

The 17th of January 2007 can be considered a historical day. This is the day in which the two Places went into the "Total War" phase:
a) the attacks were personally launched by each of the two;
b) the President’s attack looked like an Official Press statement from the Cotroceni Palace. It wasn’t a phrase in a calm talk-show, nor a word said quickly on the stairs of the presidential plane. In its turn, the PM replied immediately and, with the same means (an official press statement) accused the enemy from the Victoria Palace.
c) the President didn’t just criticize the activity of the Government. He accused the PM of covering a group of interests. The Prime Minister didn’t just criticize the President’s activity. He said the President was the representative of a group of interests.
The difference between the past and the present war isn’t this one. As I emphasized during "Sinteza zilei" in my commentary after the departure of Calin Popescu Tariceanu, the note the President showed hasn’t gone into the archive. This was not an official document that the laws of transparency would have required for it to be shown. This was a private document. The President did a strange gesture for such a crucial battle: he revealed a moment that is usually revealed in the memoirs.

In its turn, the Prime Minister, told several untold things from the past of the relationship between him and Traian Basescu. Therefore, one decade earlier than expected, we found out why the PM refused the before-term elections and the secret deals behind the closed doors.

Escalading the war by revealing the actions in the backstage could be fatal to both the participants and to the present power consequently.
There are a lot of moments in the life of the Alliance that raised a lot of questions. Stolojan’s retirement, the involvement of the MISA members in the electoral campaign against Adrian Nastase, the SDP stenographs deal, the crisis of the hostages in Iraq.
It seems like the President and the PM need to stop making reciprocal disclosures about their private relationship.
Can they escalade more than this?
Unfortunately, they can.
The involvement of the state’s institutions in the war between the Palaces could be next.
The irresponsible statement of Laura Codruta Kovesi regarding the possibility of an investigation of the General Prosecutors’ Office against the Prime Minister shows us this is quite possible.
It’s disastrous! But not for the two. It’s disastrous for the country!