Adrian Nastase will keep his position as PSD (Social Democrat Party) chairman and will carry through with his Prime Ministerial term. A reshuffling of the governmental team and of the entire PSD is, however, in order.
This announcement came from Adrian Nastase yesterday, who publicly confirmed, after a two-day absence, that he had contemplated resignation from his position as leader of the ruling party. Adrian Nastase said during his address from the Victoria Palace (Government headquarters) that he would have liked his withdrawal from the PSD leadership to mean he assumed responsibility for the results of the local elections, but to also give the green light to radical party-wide changes. This is the first acknowledgement, as far as the PSD leader is concerned, of a negative result for PSD during the local elections.
His candidacy in the presidential elections is still however uncertain. Nastase made reference to the PSD's Extraordinary Convention to take place in late August, when the ruling party is to officially announce its presidential candidate, but did not explicitly say whether or not this was likely to be himself.
One of the effects of the entire discussion about Nastase's possible resignation as party leader, is the separation of party activity from governmental activity in the future.
Nastase talked about separating such political and governmental activities, hinting that the governmental team would see a reshuffle in the next few days. He did not however volunteer any details.
Adrian Nastase's public appearance yesterday came after a meeting with the head of state, Ion Iliescu, early in the morning. The meeting lasted for less than two hours. At the end of Nastase's address, broadcast on TV, Iliescu said, "he (i.e. Nastase) has just taken some time to reflect on some issues." He added he has "no idea where all these rumours came from. People have a wild imagination around here; he will probably make the necessary clarifications, but people are always looking for a scandal."
Iliescu was at pains to again explain that his ties with the PSD were related to his interests, as head of state, in the ruling party. The Opposition, for its part, had demanded the President to abide by the Constitution, which prohibits the head of state from being close to any political organisation.
Nastase in his turn dismissed speculations in the press about his dissatisfaction with Ion Iliescu's criticism and about any break-up between them. "There's hardly any conflict that could come between me and him that would lead to a major break-up," Nastase said.
The Opposition was quick to react to Nastase's statement. The PNL (National Liberal Party) leader Theodor Stolojan, who will run for President as the PNL-PD Alliance candidate, said the Premier's move "was pitiful and turns the PSD leader into an irresolute and inefficient leader of a drifting party." Stolojan also asked Nastase to make sure that the problems being experienced by the PSD would not compromise Romania's EU accession chances. He stated that it is not the interests of PSD members that are at stake, but those of 20 million Romanians.
mirela.luca@zf.ro ; adelina.radulescu@zf.ro
