PNL (Liberal Party) prime vice-president, Valeriu Stoica, has managed to obtain, during the National Council that met at the end of last week, the support of subsidiaries for continued negotiations with ApR (Alliance for Romania) and with other political factions, with a view to finding a formula for participation in parliamentary and presidential elections. The final decision in this sense will rest with the extraordinary Congress, convened for August 18.
ApR National Council, which also met at the end of last week, designated Teodor Melescanu as a candidate for presidential elections and mandated the Executive Bureau to continue, by July 31, negotiations with the Liberals to the end of setting up “a new political construction.”
Following a stormy session, during which Decebal Traian Remes announced his resignation from the position of Finance minister and number three within the PNL hierarchy Nicolae Manolescu resigned from the party, the National Council mandated Valeriu Stoica, in line with a resolution adopted by a large majority, to continue negotiations with ApR, as well as with “other factions, to the end of establishing a larger coalition.” Stoica stated that political discussions will be continued, but by two groups of negotiators, which will separately present their conclusions during the Congress.
“I regret that the variant with ApR was almost compromised because we set off with the wrong idea that we have a single option: CDR and Emil Constantinescu,” Valeriu Stoica maintained. He told Council members that PNL and Romania’s stake is that elections should be won by a political force able to endorse a liberal economic programme and to speed up Euro-Atlantic integration. In the end of the speech he held during the meeting of the Council, the prime vice-president said that the members of this forum would have to “be open” to all possible and desirable options: an alliance with ApR, the constitution of a larger coalition and participation on separate lists in parliamentary elections and supporting a separate candidate for presidential elections. As a matter of fact, the liberal leader said that setting up a coalition with a single presidential candidate is less likely and offered as an example PD’s rejection of dialogue and the possibility that UDMR (Democrat Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) might have its own candidate for presidency so as to be able to retain its “negotiation potential” for the second round.
On the other hand, the resolution adopted by ApR National Council stipulates that the alliance with the Liberals may be applied only if PNL agrees to support Melescanu for presidency and Stolojan for the position of prime minister. However, this point of view failed to meet Liberals’ unanimous consent. The resigning Finance minister accused Valeriu Stoica that he had been spending time, money and energy for his electoral campaign and stated that PNL prime vice-president was loved by no one and was ignored by the Romanian society.” Remes also stated that Stoica ignored the repeated requests of PNL members to meet “real life.” “You went to Sidex and were chased by socialists,” Remes added, predicting that Stoica would end up being “chased by the Liberals.” Vice-president Crin Antonescu retorted, saying that Remes’ statements were not fair.
In his turn, PNL National Council chairman Nicolae Manolescu submitted his resignation from the party, stating that he would rather be “a political suicide” than “a professional survivor in politics.” “I believed in principles and I did not deem them as prejudices,” Manolescu stated.