Two fairies

Lucian Croitoru has no flaw that would cause the parliament to deny him the right to become prime-minister, after he was appointed yesterday by president Traian Băsescu to form the new government.

However, Klaus Johannis didn"t seem to have any flaws either and still Traian Băsescu rejected him.

Out of the "transparent parliamentary majority" (Social Democrats - PSD, Conservatives -PC, Liberals - PNL, Hungarians - UDMR and the minorities), the Hungarians were the only ones that seemed to be willing to have a dialog with Lucian Croitoru (but they said that they would not outright reject Klaus Johannis).

Speaking rather inappropriately on behalf of the "transparent majority", Crin Antonescu said that he would invalidate Croitoru (even though Antonescu can not control what the minorities want or do).

Mircea Geoană rather bluntly accused Traian Băsescu that by nominating Croitoru, he is just buying time, to keep the Boc cabinet in office, which would allow him to organize the presidential elections in manner that would favor his reelection (the elections are about one month away).

This accusation only makes sense if one looks at it on the surface. In reality, the ongoing political crisis hurts us the most from a financial point of view.

While the Boc Cabinet is in office, it no longer has the constitutional right to enter any agreements on behalf of Romania.

But we are in such a deep hole, that public sector workers can only receive their salaries from the syndicated loan from the IMF.

The USD 300 million tranche received under the agreement with the European Commission is still waiting for its approval by the Parliament ever since September 27th.

Right now, even if the tranche were approved, the money could no longer be drawn since there is no one to do it.

The prolongation of the political crisis would worsen the situation, with direct effects on the pockets of the one million and a half public sector workers and indirectly on the entire Romanian economy.

And in spite of the unions" commitments to suspend their protests for the duration of the political crisis (besides they"d have no one to talk to anyway once the Boc Cabinet was dismissed - well, truth be told, they didn"t have anyone to talk to before either), there will be spontaneous protests once people no longer have food to put on the table.

Only a dummy would say that Băsescu would be interested in having something like that happen before the elections.

The show of this political crisis puts the spotlight on some new elements.

First: the old-school political campaign tools - posters, TV spots, pens, t-shirts, hats and lighters are becoming obsolete.

Right now, the campaign consists of convincing the electorate that it"s the other side that"s guilty for your future starvation.

There is no doubt that there will be famine in January, if not sooner.

That doesn"t seem to matter too much to the politicians. What they really care is shifting the blame. The "blackmail" that Mircea Geoană mentioned in his accusation of Băsescu, is real, it"s just that all sides are using it.

They blackmail each other, with our fate hanging in the balance.

Had Băsescu appointed Johannis, he would have lost his perpetual winner image.

He would have been forced to admit defeat, which most likely under his "secret" calculations, would seriously lower his chances of winning the elections. Because his voters see him as a winner, ever since he used the slogan "I"m coming to take over the mayoralty!"

But by appointing Lucian Croitoru (who is not Boc, but rather a credible alternative to Klaus Johannis), Băsescu shifts the blame for the economic disaster on the "transparent majority", in case they invalidate him.

The second novelty of this electoral is the sudden discovery of new "talents".

Before Klaus Johannis and Lucian Croitoru, the political battle was becoming disgusting and large masses of voters had already expressed their lack of interest for politics.

It had become virtually impossible, to tell the difference between rats and vermin, especially as all of them were engaged in a messy fight.

The solution found by Crin Antonescu (who is called "Chuky - the killer doll") for imposing Klaus Johannis, forced Traian Băsescu (who is called "Ahab - the one-eyed sailor") to pull out his trump card: Lucian Croitoru .

Upon seeing them, the electorate"s reaction will be similar to that of the mice who saw two bats: "Look mom, two fairies!".