The Social Democratic Party Has a New President
Liviu Dragnea is the new interim president of the Social Democratic Party, the most important member of the governing coalition in Romania.
Corina Cristea, 23.07.2015, 13:14
Until the congress
scheduled for November, the Social Democrats have a new leader, following Prime
Minister Victor Ponta’s decision to step down as party president, a position he
had been holding for five years. The Prime Minister wants to prove his
innocence in the case in which he is being prosecuted for forgery, tax evasion
and money laundering, which he allegedly committed as a lawyer, back in 2007.
The main culprit in this case is his
party colleague Dan Sova, a former Transport Minister in the Ponta Government.
Gathered in Bucharest on Wednesday, the members of the Social Democratic Party’s
National Executive Committee decided that Livu Dragnea was the most suitable to
be interim president of the party and his opponent in the race for the party
leadership, Rovana Plumb, would remain president of the party’s National
Council. As head of the party, Liviu Dragnea has voiced assurances that the
party is united and, together with its governing partners – the National Union
for the Progress of Romania, headed by Gabriel Oprea, and the newly established Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for
Europe – will continue to support the government. Liviu Dragnea:
I’ve
had a phone conversation with Mr.
Oprea, who supports the formula adopted by the National Executive
Committee, and I want to assure him of our full and honest collaboration. We
want to convey the same message to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for
Europe: the Social Democratic Party continues to be their fair and loyal
partner and together we can ensure the governing of this country in a way that
support its economic development
Electing Liviu Dragnea as interim
president of the Social Democratic Party renders the party more stable, Gabriel
Oprea has stated, also reiterating his support for Prime Minister Victor Ponta
and also for the president of the country, Klaus Iohannis, with regard to all
the projects that pertain to national security. In turn, the co-president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats
for Europe, Daniel Constantin, has stated that the partnership with the Social
Democratic Party goes on. On the other side of the barricade, the co-president
of the opposition Liberal Party, Alina Gorghiu, believes that, despite the
public statements, the Social Democratic Party is marred by internal conflicts:
I
don’t thing that the parties involved will be reconciled any time soon. They
are all focused on the fight for supremacy within the party, and,
unfortunately, governing the country has turned into a marginal matter.
Fighting and splitting within a party translates into insecurity, and we want to
be an alternative to governing also through the unity of this construction.
Alina Gorghiu believes that the
situation within the Social Democratic Party will affect the process of
governing and the country needs another
prime minister.
