Meeting of the Social Democrats’ National Council
The leader of the Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, has found new enemies to fight against. The EU and multinational corporations now join President Klaus Iohannis and the so-called “parallel state in the list of Dragneas foes
Ştefan Stoica, 17.12.2018, 13:37
On Sunday, the Social Democratic Party in power in Romania held a National Council meeting. Just one day before the reading in Parliament of a second no-confidence motion filed by the right-of-centre opposition against the government formed by the Social Democrats and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, commentators would have expected the Social Democratic chief Liviu Dragnea to call for solidarity in his party and to urge them to fight against their political opponents. Surprisingly enough, Liviu Dragnea spared the Opposition, which apparently he does not perceive as a serious threat.
He did, however, deliver a rather harsh speech, read by observers as the birth certificate of the illiberal era for the Social Democratic Party. Dragnea lashed out at the EU, which he claimed held Romania back through the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, at the European Parliament and at the Romanian Socialist MEPs who allegedly want the country to go down, at multinational corporations in the energy, retail, banking and telecoms sectors, accused of taking money out of the country by dodging taxes. He did not forget about President Klaus Iohannis, whom he accused of high treason for stating at some point that Romania is not capable of holding the rotating presidency of the EU Council.
The Social Democrat leader also rehashed his favourite topic, what he calls the “parallel state, formed of intelligence services and prosecutors who allegedly concoct criminal cases against undesirable people, including Dragnea himself. And this brought him to the much-debated topic of amnesty and pardons. He called on the Government to issue an emergency decree on the topic, in case no other solutions are found to address what Dragnea refers to as “the injustice in the judiciary. As Dragnea put it, “why are words like amnesty and pardons a kind of blasphemy, an atom bomb that we hesitate to use against the EU and the world? I am not afraid to use these words.
Social Democrat strongmans attack on the EU, his waving the flag of national sovereignty, and his openly stated intentions with respect to the judiciary, did not go uncriticised. “This is a declaration of war against our partners in the EU and NATO, the ravings of a dictator able to send the country plunging into its darkest era, said the National Liberal Party president Ludovic Orban. He called on the Social Democrats to distance themselves from Dragnea and to support the Oppositions no-confidence vote.
In turn, the leader of Save Romania Union, Dan Barna, warned the Government that passing an emergency decree on amnesty and pardons would be the start signal for a revolution. “We will take to the streets, around the country, and will stay there until the government formed by the Social Democrats and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats falls. We will stage peaceful protests until Romania rids itself of Liviu Dragnea and his corrupt, deceitful and irresponsible regime, Dan Barna said.
In November, the European Commission asked Bucharest to suspend all the changes to the justice laws and to resume the revision of the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure. An amnesty benefiting, among others, the top-level officials sentenced to prison on corruption charges, would only deepen suspicions that the Power in Bucharest sees the judiciary as a mere tool at its disposal. It is in these circumstances that Romania takes over the half-yearly presidency of the EU Council on January 1. (Translated by Ana-Maria Popescu)
