President criticizes Constitution revision for stripping president of power and turning Romania's leader into 'a clown'

Romanian president Traian Basescu has recently criticized the revision of the country's Constitution because it “cuts down” presidential duties and from this point of view, the changes result from “a messy [USL] deal, which is reflected in the Constitution.” “I’m looking at the position of president - I repeat, I won’t run for office anymore and the Constitution will not apply for me - the president’s duties are so much cut down that it makes me think that somewhere, underneath, it is a sort of a messy deal that is now reflected in the Constitution,” said the president during a show at B1 TV channel. Traian Basescu also added that he noticed what presidential attributions have been cut by the Constitution revision commission, in detriment of the President’s authority. “I can see, as an experienced politician, what attributes the Commission decided to cut. You can’t take an elected president and place him as a clown at Cotroceni Palace,strip him of any kind of powers, besides that of proposing the heads of the secret services to the Parliament, and a few other proposals," said the incumbent Romanian president. When asked if Crin Antonescu, president of the National Liberal Party (PNL), and most likely a presidential candidate in the 2014 elections, would accept being a president without teeth, Traian Basescu said that it depends on personal goals in life, suggesting that someone who just wanted a job with “reasonable pay”, a protocol house and a car would be interested in taking on the role. He also said that the he does not think the Social Liberal Union (USL) will break, but the condition for USL co-head Crin Antonescu to be supported as USL’s candidate in the presidential elections next year is probably to have fewer powers. Earlier this week, the team tasked with revising the Constitution voted to reduce the president’s term of office to four years, from the existing five. Moreover, the USL approved the new Constitution to clarify the relations between the president, on one hand, and the government and the parliament on the other. Under the suggested revision, a president could no longer reject a minister proposed by the prime minister during government reshuffles, according to Crin Antonescu, quoted by local news agency Mediafax. Romanian president Traian Basescu also said recently that he has started the procedure to organize a new referendum, where people would again decide on having a single chamber Parliament and a maximum of 300 MPs. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com