Rumors about Emil Boc being replaced

The Boc government may be replaced after the conclusion of the visit of the IMF delegation (ed. note: after February 6th), political sources recently told us.

It would appear however that meanwhile, things seem to be heating up at the top of the PDL. There are some voices that claim that Emil Boc will be forced to resign by Monday, or else an Extraordinary Congress will be summoned, which would dismiss him from his position as president of the PDL and replace him with Vasile Blaga.

There are rumors saying that a new government is in the works, made up of technocrats, which would be helmed by Călin Georgescu, the head of the National Center For Durable Development. The name of Călin Georgescu has already been mentioned on several occasions as a potential replacement for PM Emil Boc.

• Tuesday evening, a tense meeting at the headquarters of the PDL

On Tuesday, several members of the Parliament representing PDL said that the party lacks leadership.

According to sources from the PDL, the criticism came from Vasile Blaga, Cezar Preda and Raluca Turcan.

According to the sources, Vasile Blaga said that he has had enough of clichés and that the party needs to be managed according to clear and transparent rules.

The unhappiness of the MP of the PDL was sparked by the fact that the PM told them, in the beginning of the meeting, that PM Emil Boc told them, in the beginning of the meeting, that he knows what he has to do, but he can't tell them about it and that he still needs "some pieces for the puzzle". In response, Vasile Blaga said that he did not know what Boc may think he has to do, but he was tired of hearing clichés.

According to the sources, Raluca Turcan said that, so far the party has just drifted around at the mercy of events, and that it lacked leadership, and that the normal thing to do would be to tell the MPs of the party in an honest and transparent manner what they can do for the party, instead of resorting to "James Bond-like behaviors".

PDL deputy Cezar Preda said, quoted by Mediafax, that at the meeting of the MPs of PDL, he asked PM Emil Boc to stop claiming that if his government went away, the country would be rudderless, and added that he didn't ask for the Boc government to leave. Cezar Preda said: "I suggested to stop bringing up this idea that if the Boc government goes away, the country will be rudderless. This is a hobby horse, the coalition can appoint several governments to prove that regardless of who comes, they would pursue the same policy which the Romanians need". He also mentioned during the reunion that he had not asked for the Boc government to leave.

• Cristian Preda, on the possible appointment of an independent PM: "It's all happening just like I said!"

PDL Euro MP Cristian Preda yesterday said, referring to the fact that some of the MPs actually suggested to Emil Boc to resign, and the appointment of an independent prime minister, that it has come to what he had already suggested and that as soon as the mission of the IMF leaves, action should be taken.

Referring to the exchanges from within the PDL, Cristian Preda made the following comment speaking to RFI: "I am a bit surprised. In 2010-2011, when I said that there was a need for an alternative, I was called a traitor, and accused of disloyalty! And now I see that they've come to what I said, even though in the meantime a congress of the party has already gone by, where no one asked for a new government. At the time, Blaga asked to be appointed as the leader of the party, not of the government. And I see that still nobody has the courage to criticize in Emil Boc in public; they all talk behind closed doors, information gets passed around using "sources" and I can understand that they do not have the courage to tell Emil Boc they don't support him anymore. It's just criticism".

In his opinion, an independent PM needs to be found "urgently", who would guarantee a certain level of government stability, one who would also be capable of handling a discussion on the election dates, "because there are several versions going around".

Cristian Preda said: "Of course, the president will need to be involved, as a mediator. I think that we should stop beating around the bush on this one. At this moment, the essential problem is not the party, it's the government. Just as it has been since 2009, immediately after the reelection of Traian Băsescu. Both the image of the party and the image of Traian Băsescu are suffering because of the government".

He thinks that this process can't be delayed much longer:

"I understand that the visit of the mission of the IMF, the European Commission and of the World Bank in Bucharest brings a lot of pressure, but once Jeffrey Franks leaves us, with all of the pleasant memories he may keep from our country, from when he went dancing, or from when he attended the negotiations, we need to get working! Right now, any delay will only prolong the state of uncertainty, of lack of confidence, which has become entrenched in politics and among the citizens".

Cristian Preda warned that the PDL will continue to slide in the polls, if this state of uncertainty continues, and if instead of focusing on improving the quality of the government, the PDL will focus on settling scores within itself.

When asked what made him so sure that an independent PM will help the PDL rise in the polls, Cristian Preda said: "What is certain is that if the current state of things persists, we will slide even further. I've been saying it since 2010, immediately after Emil Boc got reappointed. And unfortunately that is precisely what has been happening. Some people kept hoping that we can just wing it! This line of thinking is harmful and weakens the quality of democracy. We need to take responsibility for our weakness publicly, we need to find an alternative and to sit down at the same table with the opposition, to set the elections schedule".

He said that there can certainly be no simultaneous elections: "If the elections will be held in the spirit that we've been having over the last few weeks, with this increasingly deepening rift between the ruling party and the opposition, with the boycott proposed by the opposition, the elections will not be viewed as solid and consistent. In order for the elections to be truly meaningful, we need to overcome today's generalized distrust. If the elections were held today, they would be vehemently contested by each faction".

In his opinion, there is a need for an "intelligent republican pact", namely an alliance which would limit the influence which the "anti-establishment parties would have".

"We need to avoid a repeat of the scenario which happened in Romania in 2000, when an extremist party got one fifth of the votes. There is a risk of seeing the rise of an anti-establishment party capitalizing on the street movements, which would benefit from all the discontent against the politicians", said Cristian Preda. In his opinion, the People's party of Dan Diaconescu is the true danger for the Romanian democracy and for good governance.