The SDP Leader Is Pressed by Peers to Run for Presidency

Adrian Nastase, Romanian PM and leader of the ruling Social Democrat Party (SDP), took back his previous statement regarding his future candidacy to the top position in the state in this fall elections. Nastase said his statement in New York "was just an evaluation at that point in time of the talks going on inside his party and of his own [not yet taken] decision to run."
He made this new and nuanced statement at Navodari Black Sea resort, where he attended the official opening of the Social Democrat Summer Camp, ECOSI, set up by the youth organization of the SDP.

Nastase said that he is fully aware of the political rules and that the SDP candidate for the presidency of Romania will be officially announced on August 27, at the SDP Congress.
He said that commentators in the media are at fault for finding different meaning in his words than he intended to.
"It was the people in Bucharest who wanted me to make public my bid that interpreted my words as announcing it. I only answered a question referring to this possibility, and I only made an evaluation of 95% likelihood, given the talks we had inside our party ranks and my own decision to run for presidency," Nastase explained.
During a press-conference in New York, last week, Nastase stated that he is "95% ready to run for presidency."

While on his visit to the Black Sea coast, Nastase said that "a greater number of young tourists should be able to visit the sea-side by way of social security measures." The PM said the low level of investments in the infrastructure at the Black Sea coast is due to the short summer season, which is only two to three months long. Also, the business and conference tourism, while present in Romania like in any other country, "cannot be a solution" for rescuing the hospitality industry, Nastase said.