PM Tariceanu and President Basescu in renewed conflict

Romanian PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu took stand against President Traian Basescu once again last weekend, criticizing him for not consulting with the Liberal partners in the governing coalition when he nominated a representative of the opposition to head the Romanian Intelligence Service -SRI.

“Basescu has become a player in the camp of the Social Democrats [PSD - the party that led the country in 2000-04, now in opposition]”, Tariceanu accused, referring to the nomination of PSD member George Maior to run the SRI.

President Basescu is linked to the Democratic Party-PD, a group shares the government with the Liberals but has clashed with the latter on numerous occasions.

Tariceanu said that by consulting only the PSD before making the nomination, President Basescu was no longer a referee of the political scene as it became a PSD player, which is a big problem for the Presidency.

The Liberals decided Friday night to vote against Maior’s candidacy for the SRI job in Parliament.

HotNews.ro, Oct 2, 2006