Cristina – Thanks for the clarification. I’m coming to learn about that as well as know it should have been more obvious in the first place. But that’s what I get for being straine. ;]

Hope all is well

However, I don’t agree with your comments and neither do most of the foreign political analysts I came across. On my blog you can read, if you want, two articles on this topic that I shamelessly stolen from The Economist and Open Democracy websites.

As I said, I cannot agree with you and approve of the “Liberals” allying with the most despicable party hacks ever appeared from the shady backstage of the 1989 revolutionary chaos.

But hey, it’s STILL a free country.

1. I’m sorry but I don’t understand what are you trying to ask. But let me explain my view about the past Parliament and the current one. Until now, Romanian Parliament was a voting machine. Someone held the majority and through absurdly strict party discipline, made sure his laws passed without any need for reasonable debate inside the specialized commissions or Parliament chambers’ floors (I don’t take into account the bombastic rhetoric as debate – and I am fully aware that the practice of talking loud about “stuff” is still present). Right now, for the first time after the Revolution, no party or coalition is in position to impose it’s point of view on the legislative process, yet few people even realize this. So engraved into public perception is the image of a Parliament voting automatically any piece of text emanated from the top dog, that no one is seeing the obvious: people are debating in the Romanian Parliament.

2. Well, I really don’t like Vacaroiu and I know he is a little asshole accessory of Iliescu. But I don’t put the blame solely on PNL for this unfortunate event. Basescu is also to blame, it was clear who was to fill his place. I also suspect Basescu thanked the Lord in his recent monastic tour because he didn’t succeed to replace the drunkard with Stolojan. Because right now, Vacaroiu at Cotroceni is his best “you have the right to be offended” card.

3. I’m sure you’ll agree that after the Revolution, one single party constantly had a better score than any other competitor and that was Iliescu’s little political ark, gently guided by ubermanipulator Hrebenciuc on the tumultuous waters of transition. Ok, the thing is not that little, is the god damn Titanic (still, way out of league for Traian “ram speed” Basescu).

4. I didn’t say Basescu was a Minister of Transport. I said – and I quote myself – “at that time he was a high ranking official of FSN”. Which he was. I can’t find what position he filled, but you didn’t get to be Minister in FSN just because you looked funny.

5. Then FSN (with Basescu around). Now PNL and UDMR with the help of PSD. Is not a natural relation, but one nurtured by the actions of one man. At the same time, this strange combination is the first thing resembling parliamentary democracy we had in all this strange years. If we get the uninominal voting thinggy I’m going to wet myself just to celebrate. So no, I don’t think the people are rallying against the same people. PSD is not FSN, Iliescu was sidelined until Basescu offered him anoter “raison d’être”. At his age, you need a reason to not die. And his reason right now is that Basescu is stealing his rhetoric (Iliescu had “landowners” coming to steal everything, Basescu has oligarchs doing the same thing, both concur that capitalism is a savage bitch in a full latex suit… but I digress, interest groups have “interests”, both are about Justice and anti-Corruption and all sort of things I just need to write using capital letters). I think Basescu really believes in what he yells, but so does a lot of the 322 guys that voted him out, most of them with a cleaner record than him (including Iliescu who had a hunger for power, but was quite immune to the wonders of illicit real estate appropriation).

6. I didn’t say he is bound by Constitution to keep his word, but I reserve the right make fun of him when he says something and does the exact opposite. He’s a moral midget and not only for the “5 minutes” thing. For the second part of the question: The trouble is that the Constitution doesn’t specify what happens if the referendum is declared invalid. All the liberal and Hungarian leaders I heard discussing the subject said that if the referendum is declared invalid, Basescu gets to play President of Rrrrromania and that’s it. The trouble is that PRM and a part of PSD just don’t want to play by the rules when it comes to people stealing their moves. Cristian Diaconescu is in the same camp with the liberals and UDMR (at least right now). Some PSD members just avoid stating anything about the matter except it will be resolved according to law, which pretty much puts them in the same side with the liberals and Hungarias. Fact is that opposition from PRM and a part of PSD (I can’t estimate how big, but I suspect they are the “old” friends of Basescu, wonder couple Nastase & Iliescu, where the fat and sassy meets the old and woody) keeps the question of what happens if the referendum is declared invalid hanging, with a looming worst scenario of suspension “at nauseam” for the rubber pirate. What all of them made sure is that Constitutional Court can’t take upon itself to resolve the matter without being asked, fearing they are under Basescu’s control. Because PNL, UDMR and part of PSD are determined to crapify Basescu’s street creed through good governing, they compromised on not taking any action for the time being, as no one wants to see the Sith Demcrat Party (or the Iliescu inspired part of PSD as I like to call it) voting randomly. Finally, any reasonable man can see that when the time comes, all the people that matter will be were the European Union wants them to be and the fair play will shine like a mother fucker (sorry for the language ;)

7. They take advantage because Basescu and his posse put them in the position to be able to take advantage. Basescu engaged in creating a presidential party through the swallowing of PNL by PD, he and B-Unit didn’t miss the opportunity to shitface anyone from PNL for any potential 1 point climb in the polls (I’m sorry, some reasonable but unpopular decisions are inevitable when governing; bashing your allies for taking unpopular decisions is just low), he acted like the “de facto” prime minister repeatedly sidelining the prime minister in office (most humiliating case being in my view that of the Romanian workers in Iraq, imprisoned for months by the American Army for espionage for taking some pictures inside the base they weren’t allowed to leave; the PNL minister of foreign relations knew, the president knew, the secret services knew, and they all did nothing for the sake of that imaginary axis Washington-London-Bucharest so dear to Traian “if you want to fuck some Russians, we’re in” Basescu; only the damn head of executive power had no fucking idea and he had to read the press to know what’s happening; even more, just as the prime minister learns about the situation, the American Army decides it was not a case of espionage and just a misunderstanding, and I’m very sure what convinced them was a hasty phone from the Traian “Defender of Romanian Citizens Extraordinare” Basescu fearing Tariceanu’s reaction could, god forbid, bring him some points in the appreciation polls so dear to our beloved crosseyed pirate), etc.

8. Yes, he has the right to defend himself. No, he doesn’t have the right to side pose for the public owned cameras anytime he wants. Some rules must be observed, it is after all an electoral process, both his view and the view of his “oppressors” must get equal time on public television. No one forbade him to keep the rest of TVland under his spell (except the Antenas and some of the lesser micro stations, everyone else seems stuck in “Heil Basescu” mode). He has an extremely favorable press, anyway you look at it. Regarding the Attorney General: no, I don’t think he will get that lucky. Those in control of the Parliament are not stupid (at least some of them), even if they were full of ill intentions toward the Justice system, they will never give Basescu another thing to yell about. Plus, what’s the point of changing some people for 30 days. More easily they could send them on a payed holiday if, for some reason, they didn’t want them around.

9. If if a flood wipes Romania off the map until the referendum, we will see Basescu anchoring at Cotroceni and an “Ahoy, matey!” speech for the rest of them politicians, to drown all the doubts that anything changed.

10. Yes, they have. They will validate/invalidate the referendum, and then validate/invalidate the solution of the Parliament in case of an invalid referendum. My money is on an invalidation (if things don’t change, I don’t see a huge turnout), followed by a validation (again, even if the Parliament is ill intended, no one in Romania has the balls to fuck with European Union).

How can we end the havoc? Is obvious we need some constitutional reform, is inevitable. I tend to favor a bicameral parliamentary system, uninominal vote and less people to vote for (just like first league football, not enough talent to field 18 teams ;). Head of state: the King/Queen or an “emasculated” president chosen by the parliament or a slightly bigger “ad hoc” assembly. I say let’s get over our fascination for the French bureaucracy and start acting more German.

P.S. Sorry for the length of this reply.

- does the accused have the right to defend himself before the electoral verdict? If yes, where?

Recently, the accused was denied access to the Parliament-controlled Romanian public television and radio stations, while the private TV/radio stations and most of the newspapers are owned by media sharks under judicial investigation (well, at least until the Parliament succeeds in its plan to change the Attorney General, too) such as Dan Voiculescu, Dinu Patriciu and Sorin Ovidiu Vantu.

- does the electorate have any guarantee that its choice at the referendum will be respected by the government?

Abstention is also a form of expressing one’s choice, as acknowledged by the Romanian Constitution but not by the leaders of the anti-presidential coalition who declared they would try to change that within the next 3 weeks.

- does the Constitutional Court actually have a say in all this political havoc?

No.

Would you be so kind to remind us:

- who were members of the Parliament after May 20th, 1990 and who are now? In case you forgot, here you can find a list of all Romanian MPs from 1990 until today:
http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senatori_români

- who was President of Romania after May 20th, 1990 and who is now (since April 20, 2007)?

- what party had the largest representation in the Parliament after May 20th, 1990 and what party has it now?

- who was the Minister of Transport in May-June 1990? – no, wrong answer: it wasn’t Basescu.

- ultimately, who was governing Romania in May-June 1990 and who is governing it today? Aren’t the people in Piata Universitatii rallying against the very same people?

- who says the President has to resign if suspended by the Parliament, in 5 minutes or 5 days or at all? The Constitution does not mention anything about it. The Constitution only mentions that after the President is suspended by the Parliament, a popular referendum must be convened within 30 days to approve or reject Parliament’s decision. It also says that if less than 50% of the registered voters participate in the referendum, it is declared invalid, the Parliament’s decision is rejected and the suspended President is reinstated in its position.

- why do the same people who crushed the May-June 1990 protests want to take advantage of the 30-day window of opportunity and change the rules of the political game?

- and, finally, why aren’t you ashamed that the politicians you’ve always supported are today’s staunchest allies of yesterday’s enemies?

But yeah, Basescu was son of communist army officer, member of the communist party, and was there to help FSN spinoff become the Socialist PD. No doubt there’s a little dust in that water.

On the other hand, Basesu did take part in reformist efforts through government office, even resigning at one point after criticizing the lack of pace for reform. Since being elected president, he appears to have done more than almost anyone else to shed some daylight on the communist files that should be openly disclosed in their entirety. He’s pushed for an increase in financial transparency of secret lives of Romania’s politicians. He managed to have communism officially rebuked and many of it’s crimes documented (if imperfectly). He’s expressed hope for future reunification with Moldova, where Romanians still live under communist government and sometimes no longer believe themselves to be Romanian. And let’s not forget he was the first to renounce parliamentary immunity!

Thanks for pointing out the communist flag crest. I knew Romania had borrowed the idea of the hole from the Hungarians decades before, but didn’t quite grasp the subtlety of the PCR symbol… as obvious as it seems now. So, in a nutshell, it’s really not like the upside down American flag (except insofar as generic political symbolism).

I believe I’m no longer ill. However, I’ve been blessed with allergies now…

mutz – That makes perfect sense because you can see some temporary bleachers in the first photo behind the buses. I guess the race cars will zip down that street as well. That should be a fun event and I hope I get the time to go down have a couple beers there. Will you attend? Maybe we’ll meet up?

Tiberiu – I might argue that Basescu has been pushing for reform a little longer than you characterize. On the other hand, I have reservations and lingering doubts due to his PCR membership and association with FSN.

(Let’s not forget that FSN, for a time, included true dissidents as they unfortunately believed the revolution had not been co-opted fully by Romania’s communist party. It may not be germane to talks of post-election FSN, but should deserves brief mention.)

I’ve made comments above which outline what I do see as a remarkably clear difference between Basescu’s PD and Iliescu’s PSD. Granted, the Roman/Illiescu/Brucan FSN split and part of it turned into Socialist PD and later has evolved toward an EPP member just like Partidul National Taranesc Crestin si Democrat.

While I would far rather see the cleaner legacy of PNTCD take charge of reform in this nation, I would not be so foolish as to equate Basescu with Geoana. And there’s no noise from the dead body of Actiunea Populara, *if* that were an acceptable ally.

There seems to be no party without a communist past, unless you consider UDMR or PNG to be a shelter in the storm. I don’t.

Not all Romanians have a deep irrational need for some authoritarian leader. Many support Basescu on strictly pragmatic grounds; he has followed in the footsteps of Constantinescu and made big strides toward a more open government.

What I don’t understand is motivation of Tariceanu! What is he doing? Siding with PSD, who has a long history of cracking up reformist alliances? On the surface, it all looks like personal ego. Especially with the Patriciu circus.

And if PNL has non-personal reasons to strongly oppose PD to the point of partnering with PSD and PRM, then I’d certainly be interested to learn more about what principles and factual matters are so important as to warrant blatant collaboration with the very worst factions of the communist party.

What’s the strategy; further legitimize PSD? Folly.

Andu – I see some similarities, but it wasn’t Horia Brenciu. Thanks for the tip; I’ll dig into Cristian Taylorescu Paturca and see if I happen to like anything he does.

G – Can PNTCD stage a viable come back? I bet they could if there was a uninominal vote. I’ve thought that perhaps uninominal voting could be a very good idea for the House of Deputies (although my thoughts aren’t finalized on that topic).

It seems like PNL is the only party with a minor measure of anti-communist heritage to claim. As long as they continue to push for lustration and full disclosure of all CNSAS, then I believe PNL as a whole remains trustworthy. Certainly their written party platform is more appealing than PD.

A certain number of key players in PNL have fled the party to create the new PDL and remain allied with PD. I don’t quite understand the history of each individual, but it does include some “big names” leaving Tariceanu. Then again, my initial reaction to PDL is negative because of the chatter regarding the strengthening of the Orthodox church (a tool of corrupt leaders everywhere).

Musculin – Was more than a few hundred. I heard some media purposefully under-reported the rally attendance because their owners were politicians (in opposition to Basescu). If a newspaper or TV station cannot even approximate factual integrity due to pressure from their communist owner, then I wouldn’t rely on them for much other than truthiness.

People seemed to be emotionally charged by a perceived ‘betrayal’ by Tariceanu, personally, for dumping Basescu (never a member of the central committee or anything AFAIK) in favor of far more powerful PSD (which is rife with the worst ilk).

Again, what’s the strategy here? Fear that PD is eating into PNL’s rightful support base? And that by pushing Basescu into a charisma campaign he’s likely to win that somehow PNL will… I dunno… gain ground for 2008 parliamentary elections? I don’t see the play here. I just don’t.

Lumi – I’d like to see Basescu to remain president at this time. I’d like to see PNL come back to an alliance (no big deal; these guys change alliances like the rest of us change underwear — daily!), and I’d like to PTNCD make a showing in the upcoming elections (although I dislike their explicitly Christian angle).

I certainly don’t want to see an unrepentant PSD or dangerous PNG take the presidency. It sure feels like a moment for defensive politics, since there’s no offensive move for anyone but Iliescu.

frank – I think there may be some contamination. Just as I recover from a lengthy and nasty cold, I find that I’m also into the spring allergies. Thanks a lot, bud!

Vaca. Heh. I hadn’t thought of that one. But doesn’t he look remarkably like an albino E.T.? I find the resemblance strikingly apparent. It’s sad to see Iliescu’s reliable Yes man back in the limelight, but he’s not the waterboy: that’s PD’s Scripcaru!

Tiberiu – Bear with me and keep educating me. I enjoy following new threads of information and considering ideas I’ve not encountered about the complexity of Romania’s post-Ceausescu communist aftermath.

Marian Munteanu comes across a “kindler and gentler” version of Gigi Becali. While he appears to be industrious and have respectable integrity, I cannot agree with much of what he espouses after some shallow reading.

I suppose each of us has our takeaways from rallies like that. Many saw it as pro-Reform. Some saw it as anti-parliamentarian. Some as pro-Basescu, personally. Some saw it as anti-”I will resign as PM, oops there’s some water” Tariceanu, personally. A few as pro-PD. As the lone nut, I wanted to see it as anti-PSD breaking apart yet another reformist alliance.

The golani rallied anti-communists/FSN (at that moment including Basescu and his colleagues from PD) and pro democracy. Most of them were intellectuals (independents, monarchists, liberals, taranists, social-democrats – meaning from Sergiu Cunescu’s party-, even neo-legionaries). They were listening to Vali Sterian. Leader Marian Munteanu.

The recent rally was anti-parliamentarian and pro Traian “I will run this country like my damn boat” Basescu. Most of them were members of PD or PD sympathizers. They were listening to Morometzii. Leader Traian “I will resign in 5 minutes” Basescu.

I concur, deja vu all over again.