The hothouse Premier

The Parliament meeting during which Premier Mugur Isarescu presented the government report made us realise that the government coalition was disintegrating. Mass-media wrote various articles on the de facto disappearance of the coalition in office. Everybody knows that Mugur Isarescu is not supported anymore by the majority of Parliament members. However, nothing compares to the putting into practice of such a decision. During that parliament meeting, the Premier seemed to be lonely, awkwardly defended by his very few supporters. All the criticisms whose victim he was were stimulated by the direct telecasting of the meeting. Aggressive accusations, foaming charges, perverse innuendoes, biased truths and solemn quotations assaulted him. The opposition’s mockery, PD (Democratic Party) and PNL (National Liberal Party)’s seemingly innocent attitude and PNTCD (National Peasant Christian Democratic Party)’s defeatist and pathetical reactions contributed to the general carnival-like atmosphere.
This meeting showed us explicitly that PDSR (Social-Democratic Party of Romania) is the main parliamentary force and this might be seen as one of the many causes of the failure of the present-day power. Unlike a government coalition marked by friction and denials of responsibility, PDSR seems to be a monolithic party, able to handle propaganda and criticisms. Iliescu’s acolytes attacked Isarescu successively and used rhetorical devices in order to annihilate any rational debate.
Unlike the PDSR robust members, Isarescu seems to be a hothouse plant. "A technocrat of fashion", as PDSR members describe him.
Iliescu adores fencing, whereas PDSR and its supporters resort to hand-to-hand fights.
The Premier’s message is touching, but problematical. Many Romanians already know that Iliescu is "close to people", but I ‘m not sure whether all of them know that Isarescu launched his electoral offer. From a theoretical perspective, Isarescu’s electoral mesage is faultless. But CDR (Romanian Democratic Convention)’s drama is that its message was not appreciated by the "deep and genuine" Romania. That’s why Isarescu risks to be the liberal intellectuals’ star and the great loser of the presidential elections. For the time being, he is attractive because of his human qualities, not because of his electoral program. The problem is that Iliescu’s situation is similar to the Premier’s. We shall see who will be the winner – and this will allow us to find essential things about the "deep and genuine" Romania.
(Adrian CIOFLANCA)