The future of the Government as discussed within the Social Democratic Part

The long-awaited settlement of accounts within the Social Democratic Party has been delayed to the disappointment of the press in Bucharest.

Bogdan Matei, 09.01.2018, 13:00

Far from triggering off new scandals within the party, Monday’s meeting of the national executive committee of the Social Democratic Party ended with nothing more than a simple announcement that senator Ioan Deneş will take over the Ministry of Waters and Forests following last week’s resignation of Doina Pană, who invoked medical reasons.

None of the potentially explosive topics announced by party sources was on the agenda of the meeting, namely the reshuffling or restructuring of the Government, the organization of an extraordinary congress or the designation of a candidate for next year’s presidential election. Proposed by PM Mihai Tudose, a possible restructuring will be discussed later this month, when the executive committee will meet again in Iasi (northeastern Romania).

At present, the government made up of the Social Democrats and their junior partner from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, includes, besides the PM Tudose, 27 ministers out of whom three are deputy prime ministers and two minister delegates. A uselessly numerous team, the opposition commented. After half a year of mandate, the prime minister seems to have reached the same opinion as the opposition.

In order to make the government team more efficient and rapid, the PM voiced his intention to have a slimmer government, with only 16 ministries. According to the media, the Ministry of Waters could come under the authority of the Environment Ministry, the Ministry for the Romanians in the Diaspora could return under the umbrella of the Foreign Ministry and the ministries with economic responsibilities are supposed to merge.

However, opinions at the top of the party are divergent. Euro MP Viorica Dăncilă rejects the idea of government restructuring, while the president of the Vrancea county council (in the southeast), Marian Oprişan, claims that restructuring is critical for the implementation of the governing program.

Although the idea of restructuring was not tackled during Monday’s meeting, the PM recalled that he had not given up the idea, thus fueling speculations that the move was an excellent subterfuge to remove from the governing team the cronies of the Social Democrat leader, Liviu Dragnea. Rumors of the souring relations between the PM and the Social Democrat leader have, for some time now, been the topic of public commentaries.

In support of these rumors is the choice of the future venue for the Social Democratic Party’s executive committee meeting. Iasi is the largest city of Romania’s eastern region of Moldavia, and the mayor of Iasi, Mihai Chirică, has incessantly criticized, for almost one year, Liviu Dragnea’s omnipotence within the party and the party’s repeated attempts to change the justice laws in order to spare its leader the discomfort of prosecution on charges of corruption.

The National Liberal Party, which has the largest representation in parliament of the three right wing opposition parties, announced on Monday that they were preparing an analysis of the government’s activity, with the conclusions being presented next week in a so-called black chart paper of the Social Democratic governing.

Despite considering the Liberals’ initiative as opportune, analysts claim that the main political danger for the majority governing coalition is actually the backstage plotting within the party.