President, PM clash over government reshuffle

After having buried the early elections hatchet at least for the time being, President Ion Iliescu and PM Adrian Nastase are now engaged in a clash over the governmental reshuffle. The meeting at the Cotroceni Palace on Wednesday night reverberated in different ways from one palace to another. President Ion Iliescu was quoted as saying by Radio Romania Actualitati yesterday that he would take the government reshuffle and administration restructuring up with the PSD (Social Democrat Party) leaders on January 17.
Several hours later, the government spokesman Claudiu Lucaci said the Cabinet would focus only on additions to the European integration programme, without making a possible reshuffle a priority.
“Our position is the same as clearly announced by PM Adrian Nastase. We will focus only on the additions to the European integration programme and do nothing special about the rest,” Lucaci explained. He added that the meeting at the Cotroceni Palace on Wednesday night and the possible reshuffle had not been discussed during the Government session yesterday.
The two contradictory announcements, one made by the Cotroceni Palace (presidential residence) and the other by the Victoria Palace (government residence) came after the meeting of President Ion Iliescu, Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, Foreign minister Mircea Geoana and the speakers of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate, Valer Dorneanu and Nicolae Vacaroiu.
The governmental reshuffle issue is not considered “spectacular” by PM Adrian Nastase. Prior to the announcement made by Iliescu, Nastase had said no “spectacular topics” had been covered during the meeting in Cotroceni.
“The discussion was not mysterious or full of spectacular topics we would try to keep secret, but rather a routine conversation, during which we briefed each other on the legislative and foreign affairs issues. I’ve seen the speculations made by certain sources that do not usually attend our talks or how the sources at the Cotroceni Palace explain what those at the Victoria Palace are planning to do, but this is simply nothing of the sort,” Nastase said yesterday.
The PSD leaders regarded the governmental reshuffle as an alternative to organising early elections during the prolonged debates on this issue. Unlike PSD, which considered it as a last resort, President Iliescu favoured the idea of a reshuffle.
Convictions have changed in the meantime. The PM at the end of the year said no governmental reshuffle was in order, but that did not necessarily mean all the state secretaries should keep their positions. Nastase told Mediafax in an interview on Wednesday that the Government activity would be reorganised in the first half of this year. He added at that moment: “The early elections are an artificial issue, exaggeratedly debated lately. The only goal we must pursue at this moment is shifting the Government’s activity’s focus to the integration process and to improving the living standards of the people in Romania.”
The Nastase Cabinet is to have an informal talk in Snagov today, during which the governmental reshuffling issue is expected to be discussed in advance.