Geoana, Potential Prime Minister to Be

Though he doesn’t believe in the use of a President - Prime Minister tandem for the elections to come this autumn, the SDP (the Social Democratic Party) leader, Adrian Nastase, admitted he will take into account this option and that Mircea Geoana is one of the serious candidates for the future Prime Minister job.

The PM Adrian Nastase stated on Thursday night, during the "Marius Tuca Show" live broadcast, that there is a possibility that Mircea Geoana will be named as PM, in an eventual SDP Government after the elections this autumn. Nastase explained yesterday that the present External Affairs Minister has "a pretty good chance" of being proposed for this job, in case that SDP wins the elections this autumn. Though he does not support the idea of a President - Prime Minister tandem, to be presented during the elections, Nastase said that SDP will take into account this option. "Even if there are no serious bases to announce such a candidature, the party will take it into account. As for the possible candidates, I would’ve told you that Mircea Geoana has a pretty good chance of being proposed for such a function", stated yesterday Adrian Nastase.

He also said that the Romanian political system does not favor the idea of the President - Prime Minister tandem for the elections. This is because, on one hand, there aren’t only two parties in order that the voting alternative would be very clear, and, on the other hand, because it doesn’t have any constitutional ground.

DOUBLE STATUS. The PM added that, even if the things went smoothly for him as a PM and as a party’s president as well, the PM doesn’t have to be the governing party’s president. "This doesn’t mean that in each step from now on, the same formula will be used. There might be a situation in which a needed party alliance would ask for another kind of a PM. But, given the situation in which we win the elections, given the situation in which the President Ion Iliescu would return to the party, the team must be regarded at as a whole and, in this case, the party’s president doesn’t have to be the PM as well", stated Nastase. The Chief of the Executive also said that, in the politics, things evolve in a different way, reminding that, in 1996, when the party proposed him the PM’s job, they were aiming at Theodor Stolojan, his main rival for the Romanian Presidency this year, to be the Vice- Prime Minister to take care of the economical problems.

NASTASE TURNS THE PAPER

The PM Adrian Nastase stated on Thursday night, during the "Marius Tuca Show" live broadcast, that he decided to take an aggressive strategy for the electoral campaign in order to counter more efficiently the Opposition’s messages. "The Oppositions didn’t do more than using a dirty campaign, whereas we worked hard all these years. We let them punch us in the face. They didn’t promote any project; they have permanently branded SDP, the Government and the local administration and won on the basis of a negative vote", complained Nastase. He seemed to be also upset because of the fact that the NLP (the National Liberal Party) president Theodor Stolojan launched the combination of "a customers’ Government" when talking about the Nastase Government and that the liberals attacked SDP regarding the local barons.