Political 2003 - clear goals and uncharted territory

To the domestic affairs, 2003 looks like an equation with at least three unknowns: we will either have early elections, or a government reshuffle or none of the above. As for the foreign affairs, the goals have been set and might be major benchmarks for the domestic decisions to be made: closing the last 14 out of the 30 EU accession negotiation chapters and the ratification of Romania’s NATO accession agreement by the 19 Parliaments of the Alliance members.
In other words, this year could be an electoral one, if the Victoria Palace and the Cotroceni Palace come to terms on the controversial issue, deciding early elections are the best solution. It could also be a preelectoral year, in case PM Adrian Nastase and President Ion Iliescu bury the early elections hatchet for good. Regardless of which of the two is eventually preferred, the current rule-opposition configuration is likely to be kept, considering what the polls show.
The long dispute between the PM and the President over the early elections issue came at a cease-fire before the winter holidays, with the two leaders having different opinions on the matter. Iliescu said that the future political evolution was an equation with many unknowns and expected January to “come with the best solution.” Adrian Nastase said there would be no reshuffling as neither would there be early elections; instead he would draft a different programme “to complement the ruling one” and take it before Parliament. The matter was left hanging, with clarifications expected over the next few days, so that the MPs could know, by the time they go back to work early in February, whether the Nastase Cabinet moves on as it is or a reshuffling is in order or early elections are organised.
In case the early elections idea is dropped, this year will be decisive for the opposition parties. This concerns PNL (National Liberal Party) and PD (Democrat Party) mainly, as they were contemplating a possible alliance last year. The leaders of the two parties were most cautious, due to the their different doctrines and their previous experience as part of a coalition. Still, the parliamentary PNL and PD groups decided to conclude co-operation protocols both in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate, as soon as Parliament goes back to work, Emil Boc, PD vice-president, told Ziarul Financiar yesterday.
Torn between the rule and the opposition, UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania), PSD (Social Democrat Party)’s most ardent supporter is making future plans of its own.
The most important legislative draft of this year is the Constitution revision, scheduled for completion by Parliament in the upcoming legislative session. Although much (uninominal vote, unicameral Parliament, fewer deputy and senator seats) was expected from the revision when the idea was first launched, the only such issue that has made it through the debates by the Special Committee is differentiating the duties of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate.
The goals set for foreign affairs are tightly connected to speeding up the EU accession process and the actual NATO accession efforts. The European Integration Ministry has a very difficult mission this year, that is provisionally closing most of, if not all of the 14 chapters left. The remaining chapters are also the most difficult ones: agriculture, energy, environment protection, competition policy, etc., which, besides the adoption of the acquis, entail a tremendous effort to restructure the economy.