Conservatives announce withdrawal from Romanian Government

The political board of the Coservative Party-PC, a junior member of the governing coalition in Bucharest, voted unanimously on Sunday to leave the government. A resolution in this regard, which was lated confirmed by the National Council of the PC, says the Party would withdraw its representatives from the government immediately and join the opposition.

The political dilemma thus created prompted President Traian Basescu to meet prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu later in the day. Basescu’s Democratic Party-PD and Tariceanu’s Liberal Party-PNL form the D.A. Alliance, which in the 2004 elections needed the support of two junior partners, the Hungarian Democrats-UDMR and the PC, in order to form a parliamentary majority.

PC’s withdrawal will leave the government with vacants seats in key ministers and with a minority representation in the Parliament.

PC leader Dan Voiculescu said however that his party would vote for the 2007 state budget but set specific terms in that regard, including a VAT cut from 19% to 9% for basic food products and new taxes on reinvested profit.


The party also said it would support measures for the political stability of the country and those related to its EU accession on January 1, 2007.

But Dan Voiculescu launched a fierce attack on President Traian Basescu and his Democratic Party, claiming that “the Democrats were turning into a totalitarian party at high speed. It’s a party of neo-Communists who have passed from Left to Right, a party that was pumped up by President Basescu and would come down with him”.

“We do not want to be part of the government but to hold power and we assure you we will hold power”, Dan Voiculescu concluded.

The decision to leave the government is based on PC’s claims that their legislative projects have never been supported by coalition partners. It all peaked last Wednesday when the Budget-Finance Commission of the House of Deputies rejected a PC draft to cut VAT for basic food products to 9%.

The PC has been holding a seat of deputy prime minister, the Economy minister portfolio, 6 seats of state secretaries and 11 representatives in governmental agencies.

Shortly after PC’s announcement on Sunday, the head of the National Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises ANIMMC Eugen ovidiu Chirovici announced his resignation from the Conservative Party in order to keep his seat in the governmental agency.

HotNews.ro, Dec 4, 2006