FIRST THE PARLIAMENT, THEN THE PRESIDENT Could PM Boc be replaced?

Yesterday, at the Parliament"s Palace, president Traian Băsescu met with the Parliamentary groups of the PDL,to discuss "politics", just one day after a stealth meeting with the leaders of the PDL organizations, in which he may have proposed the replacement of Emil Boc with a technocrat.

The names which were heavily debated as possible replacements for Emil Boc were: NBR governor Mugur Isărescu, deputy NBR governor Cristian Popa, governor advisor Lucian Croitoru, Romania"s representative with the IMF Mihai Tănăsescu, Justice Minister Cătălin Predoiu, the head of the National Center for Durable Development, Călin Georgescu and the manager of Oracle Romania, Sorin Mândruţescu.

Nevertheless, after yesterday"s discussion, Emil Boc remained a PM.

PDL members seem to have disliked the proposal made by Traian Băsescu for the position of PM, as several PDL leaders publicly stated that the Government should be led by a politician.

"In my opinion, the prime minister should be a politician, and be politically responsible", said PDL vice-president Cezar Preda, as his opinion was shared by several democrat liberals. "There were never talks in the PDL about an independent PM", Sulfina Barbu, another vice-president of the party said.

However, when it comes to the issue of whether the PM should also serve as president of the PDL, opinions in the PDL are divided. "The EU doesn"t usually have issues with independent prime ministers, and in the political world the head of the party is also the PM", Cezar Preda added.

In turn, Sulfina Barbu said that the PDL is reviewing the separation of the two positions, especially with the congress of May getting closer, when a new team that would lead the party would be appointed.

• Blaga referred to the past of a technocrat

Some leaders of the PDL even went as far as to nominate Vasile Blaga for the position of PM, but the "Bulldog" has next to zero chances of becoming PM, since he is disliked by Traian Băsescu.

A few days ago, Vasile Blaga mentioned an interesting aspect of a technocrat that is on the list of potential replacements for Emil Boc: namely Mihai Tănăsescu, former Minister of Finance from the PSD.

Blaga said about Tănăsescu that "sometime in 2000" he appointed Radu Mărginean as head of the Customs Department. Radu Mărginean was recently charged by anti-corruption prosecutors with accepting bribes in the case of the Halmeu customs and was subsequently dismissed.

Vasile Blaga also took a subtle jab at Traian Băsescu, saying that Emil Boc can not be replaced at the whim of the president: "In order to look for a replacement, Emil Boc would have to resign first. This hasn"t happened". According to the Constitution, the president is only entitled to appoint the Prime Minister, but not to dismiss him.

• Isărescu and Croitoru aren"t interested in leading the government; could Cristian Popa be a solution?

Deputy NBR governor Cristian Popa seems to have been the third official of the Central Bank that president Traian Băsescu would have wanted for the position of PM, after governor Mugur Isărescu and his advisor declined the offer to take over the leadership of the Government.

Adrian Vasilescu, advisor to the Governor, yesterday said that Isărescu does not accept taking over the Government at this time, because the real economic battle of the year will be fought at the NBR.

Isărescu has served as PM for a year, between December 1999-December 2000.

Lucian Croitoru seems even more blunt, after his previous political experience he had in 2009. Contacted by "BURSA", Lucian Croitoru claims he hasn"t received any official proposal to become PM and he wouldn"t be interested in it anyway: "My position became clear to me about a year ago and I"m only interested in my career as a Central Banker". In 2009, Lucian Croitoru had an unpleasant political experience: in October, he was appointed as PM by president Traian Băsescu, but his cabinet was voted down by the Parliament.

• The members of the Hungarian Party want a politically affiliated PM

The alternative of an independent Prime Minister doesn"t sit well with the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), either. The Minister of Culture, who is running for the presidency of the UDMR, Kelemen Hunor, recently said that he supports the idea of a politically affiliated PM and that the government needs a politically affiliated prime minister that would keep the coalition in power. Kelemen Hunor discussed the alternative of appointing an independent prime minister: "If it"s a man that has no authority (ed. note: the Prime Minister), that doesn"t know how to keep the coalition together, then the parliamentary groups would soon have a falling out and then there would be other problems that would get out of hand, the government"s decisions would not be supported by the Parliament. Starting with that, you no longer have a government, regardless of who the PM is. So we need a personality that has authority, with the ability to constantly negotiate and to find the backing for the decisions of the government".