Romanian ruling coalition co-leader: If holding hands with the PM is key to winning presidential race, I'll withdraw

All eyes are on Romania's political power couple Victor Ponta – Crin Antonescu (in picture), and bets are on whether the two-year old coalition alliance the Social Liberal Union USL will make it or break up, after USL co-head Crin Antonescu's recent statements. After publicly expressing his disagreement over Prime Minister Ponta's nomination for chief prosecutor and head of the Anti-Corruption Agency DNA, Antonescu moved to not so subtle criticism in public statements of the USL co-head PM Ponta. He said the PM is now at the mercy of president Traian Basescu, and that justice in Romania has become a responsibility of a Basescu – Ponta accord.

After previous statements saying that, despite the disagreements over recent justice proposals, the USL will not break up, Antonescu argued further that it is not the fear of losing support for the upcoming presidential elections that he did not approach the USL dissolution issue so far. “If someone thinks my political decisions are influenced by the presidential candidacy, they are wrong. If I didn't place the problem of breaking the USL on the table, it was not because of the presidency, which is a year and a half in the future, because that's an era from now,” said Antonescu. He also reminded of the support he gave Ponta to become a PM, but ruled out a candidacy for the presidential seat if he concludes that its success would depend entirely on whether he'd be 'holding hands' with the PM or not. “Victor Ponta became a Prime Minister also by holding hands with me, we were inseparable. We even attended matches together […]. If for a second I conclude that the success of my possible candidacy depends on whether I hold hands with Mr Ponta or not, I will not run, even if, of course, I like being with Mr Ponta,” said Antonescu, who is also the president of the National Liberal Party. The head of PNL previously said his party was ready to take on the Justice Ministry – which is now held by the PM as interim- should the namings in the justice system not be part of a political agreement with president Traian Basescu. But he also said the PNL will not trade the Justice Ministry for any other ministry, and pledges to keeping the Government going. Victor Ponta recently nominated Laura Codruta Kovesi, a former chief prosecutor , as head of the National Anti-Corruption Agency. Tiberiu Niţu was the PM's proposal for chief prosecutor. A few others were on the proposal lists: Bogdan Licu was his proposal for deputy chief prosecutor, Alina Bica as chief prosecutor at the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism - DIICOT – and Elena Hosu as deputy chief prosecutor at DIICOT. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: USL's website)