US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sends assistant to Romania on threatening democracy worries

The US Department of State sent Philip Gordon (in picture), State Secretary Hillary Clinton's assistant, to Romania to discuss the concerns the United States has regarding recent government actions that threaten democratic checks and balances and weaken independent institutions.

Gordon will arrive on August 12 and stay in Romania until August 13. He will also meet with members of civil society and the business community to discuss how their work plays a role in strengthening the democratic values and principles that unite the transatlantic community. Before coming to Romania, Gordon will be in Turkey, joining Secretary Clinton in Istanbul, for meetings with senior Turkish Government officials and Syrian activists. Hillary Clinton herself will not come to Romania. Romania's ruling coalition the Social Liberal Union (USL) said suspended president Traian Basescu and his people are misinforming about the situation in Romania, but also said it is normal that the Us wants to learn the truth from the USL. Romania is currently run by USL, with Prime Minister Victor Ponta from the Social Democratic Party (PSD) running the Government and Crin Antonescu, the leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) as interim president. PSD and PNL form the Social Liberal Union. Despite having organized the presidential impeachment referendum at the end of July, Romania still has a suspended president and an interim, as the country's Constitutions Court is yet to validate the vote. The court is set to gather information about the electoral rolls used for the vote and meet on August 31 to issue a decision. According to preliminary vote data, the referendum was invalid, as it had a lower than required attendance to pass. This would send Traian Basescu back to his role of country leader. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: US Department of State)