The Price of Political Greediness

Once Jose Manuel Barroso accepted the new proposal, the internal battle for the naming of the European Commissary ended. As I have written before, the naming of Romania’s European Commissary should have been a routine operation, because, once in Brussels, the Romanian politician will serve the interests of the EU, but not the ones of Romania.

The fact that this moment caused another confrontation between the two Palaces can be explained by the fact that the designator of the commissary was thought to be rewarded.

This is just one of the explanations. There would be another one based on the internal conjuncture:
a) there is no constitutional paragraph regarding the institution entitled to name the European Commissary. Since it was a premier, we couldn’t talk about any kind of tradition either;
b) the President and the PM have an open conflict. During the SDP (the Social Democratic Party) or RDC (the Romanian Democratic Convention) regime, the two would have reached a deal silently, without any kind of scandal like the one nowadays.

Calin Popescu Tariceanu wanted to shatter all the doubts regarding the fact he was the one naming the new member of the European Government.

Due to this wish of his, the PM made a lot of statements with the purpose of convincing the people that the Government, but not the President, is the institution naming the candidate for the Romanian European Commissary. He managed to do it at first. The fact that the President seemed to step back helped him. Initially, Traian Basescu said he would have the right to name the Romanian representative as well and he wanted Romania to send two proposals to the EU, but he gave up letting Calin Popescu Tariceanu think he had won. The consequence of this was that Tariceanu had to make a flawless decision. The following steps could have been: a) taking counsel with the Alliance and with the Coalition; b) taking counsel with the Parliamentary parties; c) a final debate during a special Government meeting.

Such a method would have brought the following advantages to the President: a) it would have emphasized the fact that he was the one naming; b) he would have avoided the danger of taking the blame for the entire guilt. Even if he were the one taking the final decision, the public opinion would have been under the impression of a decision taken with maximum responsibility.

a) Candidate Varujan Vosganian would have been Romania’s candidate. At that time, all the political leaders that contested him risked being accused of undermining a Romanian candidate. However, Calin Popescu Tariceanu wanted more. He wanted the candidate to be an important member of NLP (the National Liberal Party). The words of Varujan Vosganian during the show of Gabriela Vranceanu Firea on Antena 3 revealed the schemes of Tariceanu. The electoral win would have meant a lot for a country like ours. This is what determined the exchange on the 25th of October 2006 between the PM and Traian Basescu. As Calin Popescu Tariceanu said himself during "Sinteza Zilei" on the 26th of December 2006, NLP received the right to name the European Commissary in exchange for the Ministry of Defense.

Traian Basescu quickly saw the major mistake made by the NLP leader. He immediately gave up on Anca Boagiu and prepared the final hit: DP (the Democratic Party) received the Ministry of Defense without having to give anything in exchange, because the NLP representative was to be taken out with the help of a very well prepared strategy. You all know the rest. Calin Popescu Tariceanu had to accept the naming of Leonard Orban. Moreover, during the TV shows, Traian Basescu let it fall he had an important influence on the naming of the European Commissary. This is how Tariceanu lost everything: the Ministry of Defense, the electoral advantage created by having an important member of NLP in Brussels, and the exclusive right of the PM of naming the Commissary. The bitter taste of political greediness. Romanian lost the right of having an important portfolio in the European Government. The eternal price of the Bucharestian politics!