Cold War Starts In PNL

• Orban, Antonescu, Tariceanu will run for party President in March in a presumably very tense race

• Internal Liberal arguments have not started yet, as PNL is busy criticizing the State Budget draft proposed by the PSD - PD-L coalition

Tension within the National Liberal Party (PNL) is mounting with each day that brings the party closer to the internal presidential elections, scheduled for the second half of March. Nevertheless, the leading members, who have already announced their intention to run for President of PNL, have managed to remain self-possessed and to avoid typically politician quarrels for the time being.

The elections for President of PNL have a dual stake. First of all, the Liberals will have a new President or will confirm the incumbent Calin Popescu Tariceanu. Second of all, the outcome of the PNL internal elections can bear a major influence on the structure of the current Government. Some say that the removal of Calin Popescu Tariceanu will coincide with the removal of the Social Democrats from the Government for the sake of the old cliche about the unity of the right-wing forces and doctrinaire visions.

One of these visions came from PD-L Vice President Raluca Turcan who challenged the Liberals - probably with President Traian Basescu"s silent consent - to participate in the unification of the right-wing forces, provided that Tariceanu was removed from PNL"s helm. Let us recall what the PD-L leader said: "A PNL without Tariceanu can be a step forward towards the unification of the right-wing. This is not about rebuilding the D.A. Alliance. I"m talking about a long-term political construction, the unity of the political forces. The subject of the right-wing unification is absolutely necessary."

Thus, it becomes quite clear that the Democrat-Liberals are closely watching the internal developments within PNL and are looking forward to Tariceanu"s removal. Unofficial PD-L remarks that "if we get rid of Calin, I"ll buy drinks," are quite self-explanatory. For the time being, the competitors for the office of President of PNL are the incumbent President Calin Popescu Tariceanu and Vice Presidents Ludovic Orban and Crin Antonescu. Two things are certain for the time being: the cordial relationship between Orban and Antonescu and the icy relationship between Orban and Tariceanu.

The two Vice Presidents registered their candidacy for President of PNL simultaneously yesterday, according to an announcement by Bogdan Olteanu, the former Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, now the Spokesman of PNL. Upon registering his candidacy, Ludovic Orban said he had set two personal objectives: to bring PNL back into the Government as the "driver" of the ruling process and the defeat of Traian Basescu in the presidential elections due this year.

"I have reiterated my intention to run for President of PNL with the clear objectives to win the future parliamentary elections and to rid Romania of the last remaining relic of communism and the secret police: Traian Basescu," Orban said. The PNL Vice President mentioned he was not bothered that his party colleague and "good friend" Crin Antonescu was also running for President of PNL and commented that this was just evidence of democratic competition within the party.

In turn, incumbent PNL President Calin Popescu Tariceanu commented that Orban and Antonescu"s decision to run against him was absolutely natural. He recalled that PNL internal elections had always been very competitive, which was a normal and welcome state of facts. According to Agerpres, Tariceanu said: "We will start on 20 March, at 1 p.m. in the Parliament Palace, Cuza Hall. We have agreed on the agenda and the number of delegates that each county organization will send to the Congress. On Wednesday, we also established the special committees in which our specialists will be able to work to define our stand on certain areas of interest in which the Party should make its voice heard."

Although the competition among the Liberals promises to be quite civilized, without any strikes below the belt - at least between Antonescu and Orban - it remains to be seen how things develop in the future, after the debate on the State Budget draft is finished. About one month is left until the PNL internal elections, which is plenty of time for internal quarrels, which no one apparently wants.