Lessening of social tension. Romanian style

Replacement of prime minister of Romania took place very quickly: the President Traian Basescu appointed the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service Mihai Razvan Ungureanu aged 43 in the position prior occupied by Emil Boc, who resigned the office. Resignation of Boc took place in the situation of public dissatisfaction with govern­ment po­li­cies of budget cuts, thus, he explained that he did it in order to lessen the social tension. So, Emil Boc became the sixth prime minister in Europe, whose government resigned because of people’s dis­sa­tis­fac­tion with the program of reductions. The newly designated premier, who still has to be approved by the Romanian parliament, said during the official ceremony of accepting the power that “the government needs strong support of the parliament and people.” How­ever, this move doesn’t suit everyone. Romanian opposition calls for early elections. The leader of National-Liberal Party of Romania Crin Anto­nes­cu outlined the purpose of Ungu­rea­nu’s designation as “impro­vi­sa­tio­nal de­ci­sion made by Basescu in order to keep the current coalition at power, despite the fact that Romanian people do not agree with that.” The Day asked Oana POPESCU (Bucharest), director at Center for Conflict Prevention and Ear­ly Warning to comment on desig­nation of the new prime minister of Romania:

“Ungureanu is one of the most prominent figures in Romanian politics in recent years. He is also a good technocrat. Ungureanu’s career began with the post of minister of foreign affairs, he also held high positions: he was a good minister, who had a good career of a diplomat in the past. Besides, he was a good head of intelligence services and can be a good prime minister. It will be very difficult for those people, who came out on the streets demanding political reforms because Ungureanu appointment reminds many of them of the period before 1989 – times when Securitate [Romanian secret police which operated during the time from 1949 through 1989. – Author] was a part of the ruling regime. The prime minister will be approved by the parliament; however, it will be very difficult to gain wide popularity among Romanians.”

The leader of liberals Crin Antonescu said that Boc’s government was the most corrupt government since 1989. What would you comment on that?

“I would not attempt to evaluate which of the Romanian governments was the most corrupt. It would be too difficult. However, there is one thing I can say for sure: Antonescu is very popular among ordinary people. I think people are tired of the continuing corruption in government and among high-ranking politicians in Romania since 1989. I believe that the level of corruption hasn’t changed since then, although, I fear that it only increased. People are disappointed that the president and the head of the government promised to fight corruption before they were even elected. The main reason why people voted for Basescu in 2004 was that Romanians got tired of corruption and they hoped for changes, which never happened. From that perspective Boc’s government didn’t look appealing in the eyes of ordinary people.”

By the way, Romanian opposition declared that Basescu also has to go. How constructive is this position?

“This is the task of any opposition – to confront the president and the government. In fact, Traian Basescu dismissed the prime minister and appointed a new figure that is most relevant for this office. However, the protests that took place in Romania demanded the resignation of the president and not necessarily the resignation of the government. Overall 90 percent of all the slogans proclaimed the resignation of the president and not the prime minister. In addition to the resignation of the president the opposition also demands early elections and to give people a chance to choose what they want and not vice versa.”