Comment: The spring of the Congresses

Since the beginning of this year, Romanians have been under siege from the party congresses. Undoubtedly, the season of the political shows has delighted everyone, and the media especially. After the general elections, which gave the Social Liberal Union USL an arguably unhealthy majority for a normal democratic country, the congresses offer the opportunity to see the general hunting for positions in the party hierarchies. So hunting season is open. Following the news, more as a curious citizen than as a partisan supporter, I found many amusing moments, and as the saying goes, if you didn't laugh, you'd have to cry.

The season started with the National Liberal Party (PNL) congress which took place in February. The liberals, led by Crin Antonescu, were canny enough to join the winning side. Mr. Antonescu is one of the founders of USL and his attitude has demonstrated many times the self confidence of a person who believes he is playing an important role in history. We should recognize his merit in this large and unusual, at least for Romania, political project, but, what is annoying is that Mr.Antonescu continuously reminds us of this fact. Mr. Antonescu has his qualities: he is a very good communicator, he has a type of charisma and a strong sense of political craft, but, in reality, in the pragmatic political and social field, he hasn't done anything notable yet. During the congress of his party he gave a good speech as usual and he succeeded in very effectively isolating the few voices potentially against him, such as ex-Prime Minister Tariceanu, the apparently ageless and always oppositional Ludovic Orban and the intransigent traditional liberal Chiliman. The maestro move that Antonescu made at the congress was however elevating the Sibiu mayor, Klaus Iohannis, to the second position in the hierarchy of the party. Mr.Antonescu made sure he had again his powerful position in his party, and surrounded himself with only people from his circle. He also succeeded in stealing heavy hitters from the poor losers, the Democrat Liberal Party PDL. I hope Mr.Antonescu is intelligent and pragmatic enough to understand that this maestro opening can fail, thinking he can manipulate a personality such as Iohannis or that he gain the eternal gratefulness from people who were running like rats from a sinking ship. For the regular Romanian citizen, the Congress of PNL, was a new/old show in which the big fish – in this case Antonescu’s group - swallowed the small and disorientated fish who swim in this filthy, gray sea of Romanian politics. After the PNL congress I would ask: What is the road for Romania from the liberal perspective ? I don’t really have an answer. Actually, as a citizen I understood one thing clearly, that according to the PNL, I must vote for Mr.Antonescu as president of Romania because in this way the USL will stay together until 2016 and put in practice its economic, financial and social program. Which one? Concluding, the PNL congress was a media show which was dedicated to its leader, the USL presidential candidate. The second party congress of the year was, let's say juicier. The PDL congress was a true soap opera involving many types of feelings, attitudes and comments. Its debut was a few weeks before, when the president of Romania seems to have exceeded his legal attributes and promoted one candidate in the race - Mrs Elena Udrea - even if he did not do it openly. The presidential “advice” which was given more and less visibly from the congress rostrum (breaking again the presidential job description), wasn’t however respected. The presidential protegee lost, by a small margin, the leadership of the party and, consequently, in her personal style characterized especially by cheekiness and boldness, she made some noise on all media channels and tried to change the results in her favor. The highlight and the funniest thing that I have seen in the Romanian politics in the last 22 years was the “adieu” message of Mr. Basescu who actually managed to confuse many, including his aides. The President's message wasn’t only funny. It was also very sad at the same time, showing a tired, fallen leader and a poor, dizzy man who hadn't succeeded in keeping hold of power in a party he used to lead. The show of the fall of an ex-party ruler, whom many believe is the author of many of Romania's present problems was almost depressing, but it can be a lesson to learned by the current leaders, USL. I hope the USL will have the intelligence and the wish to learn something, but, I really doubt it. The so called winning group is under a totally uncharismatic leader, Mr. Blaga, who is surrounded by people who,I believe, support him to be against the presidential protegee, rather than by belief in him as a leader. The very close results suggest there were a few behind the scenes arrangements in favor of the winning group. I don’t know for sure of course, but it is probable and, why not, possible taking into account the real expertise which Mr. Blaga has as the electoral campaign leader for Mr. Basescu. As in the PNL congress case, the PDL congress was a media show, funnier but also sadder and the question of the common Romanian citizen is the same “What is the road for Romania from this party's perspective?” I really don’t know. Last, but not least the Social democratic Party PSD congress took place last weekend. The overall feel to and the big budget look demonstrated again that the winner indeed takes all. The performance was monumental, I could say, and the script was more prepared. As the above mentioned party congresses, the PSD congress too had its culminating point, which was the attendance of former PM Adrian Nastase, freshly released from jail. He is seen by many as the main victim of the President’s political revenge. After a long and touching TV interview which was scheduled just before the congress, his attendance in the congress hall had a tremendous media effect. Beyond Adrian Nastase's personal drama, his appearance had a very pragmatic purpose: to show Romanians citizens a symbol of what the anti Basescu groups deem his unorthodox and anti-democratic methods. The overuse of Nastase's story is, in my opinion, one of the most cynical things that I have seen in the Romanian politics in the last years. I don’t have the expertise and the right to discuss about whether the former Prime Minister is guilty or not, but, I have the right to question “Where have all these people been when Mr. Nastase was removed from many political/administrative positions? When did they decide as Mr. Nastase can be useful for the party again? And, above all Why did they appreciate him in this moment?. The Nastase case was the dramatic part of the script, but, as a well written and balanced scenario, the PSD congress had its funny moments. Mr. Ponta’s text was balanced, explaining more his political leadership vision than his economic or financial ideas, but, taking into account the event, a political one, not a governmental one, his speech was fresh, modern, exposing a new way to understand politics, especially from the left. We will have to see if he’ll put into practice those generous and full of good sense ideas. I think