The Romanian Prime Minister Steps down as Leader of the Social Democratic Party

Victor Ponta has decided to step down as leader of the Social Democratic Party.

Ştefan Stoica, 13.07.2015, 13:23

After 5 and a half
years as leader of the biggest party in Romania, Victor Ponta has decided to
step down and take no position within the Social Democratic Party until, as he
says in a Facebook message posted on Sunday,
he proves his innocence in the case in which the National Anticorruption
Directorate has accused him of corruption. Currently the prime minister is
being prosecuted for forgery, tax evasion and money laundering, which he
allegedly committed while a lawyer. The case also involves his party colleague,
Senator Dan Sova.

In the same Facebook message, Ponta says that other members
of the ruling Social Democratic Party too have temporarily given up their
political positions within the party until they have clarified their legal
situation, and he cannot ask the others to make such a sacrifice, without
making it himself. This is his first step backwards following November’s
presidential elections, the moment that actually marked the decline of one of
the most prominent young politicians in Romania. The resounding failure in the
race for the office of president of the country, caused by a tactical error,
that of treating voters abroad with contempt, has weakened his position within
the party.

Still, despite the party tradition, which says that if the leader of
the party loses the election, he also loses the position of head of party,
Victor Ponta miraculously managed to ease tensions within the Social Democratic
Party and stay president. That was an absolute first in Romania, which,
unfortunately, was followed by another one, starring the same Victor Ponta. He
became the first acting head of government to be prosecuted for corruption.
Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis and the right-wing opposition called on
Ponta to resign and thus avoid having Romania suffer from a bad image, the more
so as the country was making efforts to convince its western partners that the
fight against corruption was not phony.

However, Ponta refused to do so, and
played a trick, which weakened even more his political position. On the very
same day when he was supposed to be heard by the anticorruption prosecutors,
the prime minister left to Turkey to have his knee operated on. He has now
finally returned, one month later. In the meantime, the coalition formed around
the Social Democratic Party has suffered one first major blow: the National
Union for the Progress of Romania, member of the coalition, has endorsed Mihai
Razvan Ungureanu as head of the Foreign Intelligence Service.

Following the announcement that he
steps down as president of the Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Party has
again called on Ponta to also step down as prime minister. Victor Ponta has
understood that his remaining president of the Social Democratic Party damages
the image of the party, so, logically, he should also understand that the
damage for the Government and for Romania is even bigger said the liberal
co-president Alina Gorghiu. The story, therefore, might have the ending desired
by the liberals, even in the short-run. Without him being a leader of the
Social Democratic Party, Victor Ponta risks being affected by major
consequences, both with regard to his authority within the government and also
within he coalition which seems so far from the initial harmony.