ALLIANCES AND MESALLIANCES  Vadim+Hunor=Love Ponta

Călin Popescu Tăriceanu, Corneliu Vadim Tudor and Teodor Meleşcanu yesterday expressed their support for the candidacy of Victor Ponta in second round of the presidential elections.

In exchange for the support, Călin Popescu Tăriceanu, who got 5.36% of the votes, in the first round, received the first option for the position of prime-minister, and Teodor Meleşcanu (1.09%) - the position of future presidential advisor on matters of security.

It is, as of yet, unknown what Corneliu Vadim Tudor, who got 3.68% of the votes, will receive.

The UNPR, which is part of the PSD-PC-UNPR coalition, yesterday signed with the PRM a protocol for supporting Victor Ponta.

Corneliu Vadim Tudor said that he supports the current prime-minister in the presidential elections, because he would not be capable of voting for a president of a different ethnicity: "I have been courted by both warring factions, and after thorough reflection and consideration I have decided to support young Victor Ponta in moving his office to the Cotroceni Palace because, like the saying goes, I am choosing the lesser of two evils. And Klaus Iohannis and his team have made some mistakes that have been monumentally detrimental to the nationalist movement in Romania (...) I will never vote for someone who is foreign to our nation and laws, or, against all reason, Klaus Iohannis could become Romania's president when I get to be Germany's president".

The leader of the PRM also claimed that Iohannis, "the second-hand German who was not good enough for foreigners", is allegedly backed by Laszlo Tokes in his bid to turn Romania into a federal state and abrogate the 1st article of the Constitution.

When asked whether he would maintain his support for Victor Ponta if the UDMR decides to support the current prime-minister, Vadim said: "It has nothing to do with it. This backing is given for this particular moment of the elections (...) Politics is the art of negotiation, that has nothing to do with it. Do I look like someone that has anything against other ethnicities? The PRM even has members of Hungarian ethnicity", the leader of the PRM replied.

Victor Ponta's increasing closeness to Corneliu Vadim Tudor was not to the liking of UDMR's Kelemen Hunor, who had a final provisional score of 3.47%. He said that his opinion about the leader of the PRM is unchanged and that it was the UNPR that signed a protocol with the UNPR, rather than the PSD, and he went on to say that all the players are seeking support for the second round and devising strategies, and he won't discuss his own.

Kelemen Hunor said that the Union (UDMR) would decide on Thursday who it was going to back in the second round of the presidential elections, but that the intention is to continue alongside the coalition, and he went on to say that the experience that the UDMR had with Tăriceanu as prime-minister was very good.

Under normal circumstances, Corneliu Vadim Tudor would not be seen getting near Kelemen Hunor unless they were at odds, and under no circumstances would the former be seen shoulder to shoulder with the latter; but at a time like this when all kinds of unnatural alliances are being made, nothing would surprise us.

• Tăriceanu, Maior and Georgescu, on the short list of prime-ministers announced yesterday by Victor Ponta

Călin Popescu Tăriceanu is Victor Ponta's main political option for the future prime-minister. Other people that have been nominated by the leader of the PSD were NBR deputy-governor Florin Georgescu, if economic or fiscal issues arose, or George Maior, the head of the SRI, if security issues arose.

The current PM said: "I have talked to my colleagues, and, if we were to come to the conclusion that we had to send a very clear signal in the coming days or weeks that fiscal and budgetary discipline must be preserved, then I don't rule out the possibility of appointing first-deputy governor of the NBR Florin Georgescu as a technocrat prime-minister (...) Should Romania encounter strategic security risks, and in order to give very clear guarantees concerning the continuation of the democratic development, and that we will continue to honor our international commitments, we can also consider Mr. George Maior as an alternative and a person that would be suitable for that position, subject to him handing in his resignation from the position of director of the SRI (Romanian Intelligence Service) after the elections, like he has publicly announced he would".

Victor Ponta said that the future prime-minister that he is going to work with guarantees that the 16% flat tax rate would remain in place, as well as the tax exemption of reinvested profits, the 5 percentage points cut of the Social Security contributions, as well as the social security measures such as the annual indexation of pensions and the hike of the minimum wage.

Victor Ponta further said that the new prime-minister would also preserve the agreements with the healthcare and education sectors, as well as the international commitments pertaining to the increase of the Defense budget.