Roman, between an Ambassador position and a secondary role in PD

The national extraordinary convention of the Democrat Party (PD) set things straight in the party. One question is still unanswered though: How will Petre Roman manage to get over his failure to win the top PD position, anticipated by everyone else but him, after having been the president of this party for ten years?

The ex-Democrat president said nothing about his remaining among the Democrats after Traian Basescu’s decisive victory was announced, but those close to him were talking about his possible retirement to an Ambassador position in Paris for a while.

In a hardly comfortable position of former prime minister and PD president for ten years, during which the party and his leader had meant one and the same thing for most of the voters, Petre Roman is now on his way down, politically, as people doubt he has the necessary resources to come back to the top.

During PD’s National Extraordinary Convention, he showed he is an eroded politician. His dull and unconvincing speech before the Democrats, along with his apparently defensive policy lead to Roman’s conclusively losing against Traian Basescu.

“They talked about the lack of communication between the centre and the territorial branches and about me being cut off by the Political Council. Yes, indeed, I was, but I’m not complaining about that, because I could have pulled rank over it, if I had wanted to,” the former PD leader said before the over 1,000 delegates gathered in the room.

Roman spoke from the tribune, with an almost resigned tone in his voice, about the breach of the party’s statute, about the “powerful opposition” PD was to build in the future, about his “concern” for promoting people. With a gloomy look on his face, intent on incessantly stirring in his coffee cup, Roman gave up the smile that ensured success over his first years in politics.

After all, during the second day of the Convention, when the result of the elections had been announced, no one saw the former leader attending the reunion.

Will Roman leave PD? This was the question most people asked during the two convention days. The new president, Traian Basescu soon after the elections, was saying PD “needs all of us”, Petre Roman included, but warned his will not “hand over” a leadership position to him. It may not even come to this, because it is highly unlikely that the former leader would agree to be second in command to his successor.

This is what he hinted at, after all, saying, “PD’s evolution will have very little to do with me from now on.” It is hard to believe that the former leader, along with his supporters, would leave the party.

Most of the democrats say Roman group will remain in PD, acting as the party’s inner opposition and pointing out Basescu’s mistakes. People close to the former president say he might temporarily retire on an Ambassador position in Paris.