SDP-Reasoned Split

DP (the Democratic Party) turned their back to the Socialist International and started the negotiations with the European People’s Party. The cause is the declared support of the socialists for SDP (the Social Democratic Party) in the electoral campaign, says Radu Berceanu, the democrat vice-leader.

The last years’ distance between DP and their colleagues in the entire world, the Socialist International (SI), is getting larger by the day. Last week, Jurnalul National reported that the DP international relations vice-president, Sorin Frunzaverde, proposed a project to the leading board. According to this project, they would give up on the collaboration with the Socialist International and adhere to the European People’s Party (EPP). Frunzaverde has been nominated to take care of the negotiations with EPP, since he has already started to negotiate with some of the parties’ in Europe. He is to have a meeting with several EPP members in Brussels next week.

ABSENTS

However, in the meantime, the Conference of the Party of the European Socialists (PES) - a structure of the socialist parties in the member countries of the EU - has started in Stockholm and DP didn’t nominate any member to take part in it. Adrian Nastase, from SDP, will take part in the Conference.

During yesterday’s press conference, Radu Berceanu, the DP vice-president, tried to explain that all the leaders of the party have been too busy to leave the country. "We haven’t been able to send any delegation to this reunion because we didn’t want to send people of an inadequate quality. The people we were thinking of for sending there haven’t been able to leave: Adriean Videanu is in Brussels, and all our other members are involved in tight voting in the Parliament and we could not afford such a departure", Berceanu stated.

ANNOYANCE

Later, the DP vice-leader has explained that their absence from the PES meeting would actually be reasoned by the socialists’ support for SDP during the electoral campaign. "The first issue that we and the International must clarify is the situation that happened during the electoral campaign, when very high representatives of SI came to Bucharest, discussed only with the SDP representatives, really supported SDP, didn’t discuss with us or our candidate and pointed out the candidate that should have been supported", emphasized Berceanu. He also showed that the Stockholm reunion was not the time or the place for such clarifying.

Nevertheless, Berceanu admitted that DP is discussing with EPP, but the negotiations would be much more consistent after the party elects its leading board. "There aren’t substantial differences between the two doctrines", he added.

CONTRADICTIONS

On the other hand, Sorin Frunzaverde says that, "considering the given terms, we cannot negotiated". He was referring to Berceanu’s statements. Sorin Frunzaverde, who isn’t in the country or in Stockholm, says that Emil Boc should have attended this meeting. "We have communicated to PES that Emil Boc couldn’t attend this meeting due to his busy schedule", the DP vice-president said yesterday. President Emil Boc says he nominated Sorin Frunzaverde and Adriean Videanu to attend this meeting, but they weren’t able to do it. "Radu Berceanu spoke the truth, but DP will still be a member of the International. Not taking part in the PES meeting is not the end of the world, it is just a consequence of the schedules’ overlapping", Emil Boc stated for us.

THE APPLE OF DISCORD

The DP annoyance is provoked by the supportive messages of SI and EPP for Nastase’s party during the electoral campaign, taking into account that DP is a SI member since 1999, and SDP is a member only since October 2003. After SDP won the 2000 elections, and Petre Roman had been eliminated from DP, Adrian Nastase became the socialists’ pet. The SI president, Antonio Guterres, the general secretary, Luis Ayala, as well as the PES president, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, came to Romania last year and stimulated the people to vote for SDP. "PES encourages the Romanian people to support Adrian Nastase, presidential candidate, and the SDP group for the Parliamentary elections and to stop the comeback of the conservatives", Rasmussen was saying on the 25th of November. After Traian Basescu won the elections, the same PES leader said that this was "a disappointing result for the socialists and social democrats in Romania and Europe".