THE PSD-PNL ALLIANCE Back to the future...

• Liberals and socialists join forces again, nineteen years later

• At the time, the independent candidate for the PM position was Theodor Stolojan, today it"s Klaus Johannis

• Back then, the current president Traian Băsescu was the minister of transports

Today, no one says a word about the fact that PNL and PSD (back then called the FSN - the National Salvation Front) have already been part of a government together.

In turn, we have a lot of noise about political platforms, where some people shake their left hands, while punching the other with their right hand, who in turn uses their right hand to defend themselves.

Even though they are still alive today, neither Ion Iliescu, nor Traian Băses-cu, nor Adrian Năstase, nor Mircea Ionescu Quintus, seem to remember that this government existed.

Not even Stolojan.

History is not without its own sense of humor, even if its actors sometimes seem to develop sudden amnesia.

At the time, the Government was led by Stolojan, who now sits next to Băsescu.

Băsescu himself, a socialist at the time, was the minister of transports in the Stolojan government, together with Adrian Năstase.

What"s more, the liberal-socialist government of that time existed under president Ion Iliescu.

Who was no less of a communist or a democrat than he is today.

Liberals don"t seem to be too proud of that alliance today, considering that they are not mentioning it nowadays, when they are changing the alliance with the PSD. The Stolojan team included well-known Liberal figures, such as Mircea Ionescu Quintus (the minister of justice), George Danielescu (the minister of Finance), Dan Constantinescu (the minister of industry).

Ion Iliescu, who is now accused of being the brains behind the current alliance, seems to have forgotten about the 1991 alliance as well. And yet it existed and it was also formed in a time of crisis, a crisis which was far worse than the one we have today.

So where does this hole in everyone"s memory come from?

Normally, that alliance could at least serve as an argument in favor of the current alliance, at least to help explain away its unusual nature.

Stolojan wasn"t a liberal at the time, (he would only become one later), nor was he "a man of the people" (as he would become even later).

Băsescu was a leftist back then, and nowadays he"s a zealous right-winger.

The difference is that the old minister is now the president of the country, and he is chasing the reelection. Which is why he is now accusing the new coalition forged between PSD and PNL, helmed by Ion Iliescu, as being "unnatural". In fact, nineteen years ago, Băsescu himself was a member of a similar alliance.

Traian Băsescu says "twenty years ago" to distance himself from that coalition, which he would become a member of one year later (meaning nineteen years ago) as a minister.

If he were to mention that he was part of that coalition, he was formed nineteen years ago, then Traian Băsescu would be pointing a finger at himself.

At the time, Stolojan was himself an independent candidate.

Right now the independent candidate is Klaus Johannis....

Who is still himself, for the time being.