Parties take stand in political scandal

Major political parties in Romania took stand in the conflict between President Traian Basescu and PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu on Thursday.

The Demcoratic Party-PD took sides with the head of state, Tariceanu’s Liberals-PNL warn Basescu to return to constitutionality, while the main opposition group, the Social Democrats-PSD, want both to suffer the repercussions for the open conflict sparked yesterday.

The PNL leadership met in an emergency session today and stated their total support for the government and the prime minister. They also said they hoped PD will prove mature enough not to turn the PNL-PD alliance into a war zone. But they put all the blame for the ongoing scandal on President Basescu, whom they accuse of trying to subordinate the state institutions, including the Government.

For their part, the PD leadership condemned Tariceanu’s “practice of influencing Justice” and said they fully supported President Basescu in the situation. But they said it was not their party who should consider leaving the government, but PM Tariceanu, as they would agree with continuing the current power-sharing scheme.

But the Social Democrats said earlier that both the prime minister and the head of state should answer for the political crisis.

They called for the resignation of Tariceanu, who was “proven” to have been involved in “serious corruption”, and for the suspension of President Basescu, whom they consider guilty for keeping silent for two years over Tariceanu’s alleged intervention in favor of a businessman.

HotNews.ro, Jan 18, 2007