POLITCS - July 6 2004
The meeting between the Romanian president Ion Iliescu and the leadership of SDP from yesterday has been extremely tensed up. The president warned the leaders of SDP that his political future wonât be amongst them in case that they wonât be able to put together a real reform of the party.
SILVIU SERGIU
Deadline
With a rigid tone, the chief of the state asked the SDP leaders to finalize the party reform by the 16th of July 2004, when a new meeting is to take place. The president asked that some of the vice-presidents would resign. He also criticized the recent leaders from Bucharest and Bacau that quit, Dan Ioan Popescu and Viorel Hrebenciuc. Ion Iliescu added that in order to reduce the number of vice-presidents some of the members having a negative image must leave the partyâs leadership. By the 16th of July the SDP is to look for solutions to improve the methods of communicating its electoral message to the people. They should also establish the strategies for the upcoming presidential and governmental elections, as well as some governmental measures to be applied in the pre-electoral period. The president believes that the SDP message to the people must be improved as the image of the party has been undermined recently due to the large number of dismissals. According to the same sources Iliescu had been extremely harsh to the SDP leaders. "If these measures donât appear weâll head for separate ways in the future", Iliescu seems to have said to the leaders.
Official Statements
After the meeting the presidentâs spokeswoman, Corina Cretu, read a boring communicate, which denied that Iliescu had commented upon the SDP situation or the quitting of some of the SDP local leaders. "The president appreciated the way in which the local elections had been organized, the seriousness with which the SDP responds to the peopleâs signals, as well as the fact that the party is to take more care about the people and their needs. Ion Iliescu believes that the party needs a higher approach to the people and their needs. (â¦) It is necessary that this party would give an example of firmness against the corruption and the bureaucracy", said Cretu.Translation: SORIN BALAN