Basescu validated for second term as president of Romania

Traian Basescu pledged yesterday to modernise Romania in his second term as head of state, after being validated by the Constitutional Court. He is set to be sworn in before Parliament on Monday, December 21st. “I will be the president of all Romanians, I intend to be better than in my first term,” said Basescu after being validated as president of Romania. Basescu begins his second term at a time when the country is in the grips of the most severe economic crisis in 10 years, and his first mission will be to give Romania a government that will negotiate with the IMF, pass the budget and bring the country back on track, after it had been “derailed” over the last three months. A few hours after validation of his term, he started negotiations with parties to form the government. PD-L (Democratic Liberal Party), UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania), national minorities and independents make up the new parliamentary majority, while PSD (Social Democratic Party) and PNL (National Liberal Party) remain in the Opposition. The name most thrown around as prime minister yesterday is PD-L president Emil Boc, after Liviu Negoita declined the position. The Government’s vote of investiture could take place on Wednesday December 23rd at the earliest. Basescu (58) is the only Romanian head of state in the last 20 years to be re-elected for a second consecutive term in office.