Romanian politicians unfazed by the WikiLeaks cables

The Romanian politicians had a predictable reaction to the flurry of Wikileaks cables. Overall, the whole thing feels like everybody is trying to turn the whole situation into something derisive, with a few exceptions that support the passages that incriminate their political opponents, but challenge those that concern their own side. Since only a small part of the documents in question appeared in the press, politicians prefer to remain on defense, which gives the impression every party has its own "skeletons in the closet".

The statements of the last 24 hours, that the politicians made to the press, hardly mention the root of the problem, the snitching which has become a state policy, and moreover, the novelty of information and the consistency of documents. The chairman of the National Liberal Party, Crin Antonescu, seems unimpressed by the cables which were published by the papers: "They"re turning anthills into mountains. What is so new about them? Did anyone doubt that it was Băsescu who decides when his opponents get sued? The only surprise is the superficiality of these documents, which I are more worthy of being called essays, which just add to the mountains of paper in the State Department". His allies seem to hold a similar position. "Let"s be serious, we only exclude people when they do something serious, not for what they talk about over coffee", said Victor Ponta, while Dan Voiculescu asks rhetorically: "What is WikiLeaks?". Directly concerned by these revelations, Mircea Geoană is not willing to lend his ears to"old gossips": "Since all the political scenarios that were built and appeared in the media between 2007 and 2009 are well known to the Romanian public, it would have been surprising if they hadn"t attracted the attention of the US Embassy. The years 2007-2009 were extremely difficult from a political standpoint, but I don"t think we should falsify the real history with all kinds of information, which is either political cancans, or are simply yesterday"s news. I don"t think that now in 2011, we need to comment on the scenarios and gossips of four years ago, regardless of their source".

In turn, Elena Udrea considers that part of the documents confirm certain themes that the last electoral campaign focused on, but she said that the information which refers to her is mere diversion: "The cables show the weakness of the political leaders of the opposition. They are willing to negotiate anything, anytime, in order to get to the next level of power. We can see how close Romania was to political disaster, and to being completely dominated by several economic mobs in 2007, in the referendum, and in 2009, in the presidential elections. There are many interpretations, there may be some diversions in there, such as the one referring to my meeting with Viorel Hrebenciuc, but the main thread of the leaks is clear. I urge all Romanians of good faith to look at the overall picture, because doing so will allow them to see the true faces of Voiculescu, Vântu, Patriciu and how docile and obedient the PSD and the PNL are".

As he has apparently shed his political ambitions, Ion Iliescu expressed his disappointment in the fact that those who were reporting to the US embassy would stoop so low: "I hate gossip even when it"s done by the simpler people, and I hate it even more when it"s done my people which are supposedly more classy. They just acted like they were devoid of any personality, going over to meet foreign diplomats and run their mouths". It looks like the politicians are now in damage control mode, attempting to mitigate the potential impact of a future explosive revelation.