A month doesn’t bring what a day does. the maneuvers President Dan and PSD chief, Sorin Grindeanu, tried yet failed on the PNL and USR during the six-week long political crisis, was solved by the justice system in a matter of hours.
Ilie Bolojan’s main ally in the Liberals, the Bucharest mayor, found himself facing bribe charges, while his main ally outside the Liberals was convicted, and then, the Liberals’ internal political decisions were overturned by a county court.
If we have another day or so of this kind of action, it may finally open a channel of “constructive” dialogue with the PNL and USR and secure the votes needed for the Veștea Government to be invested.
I will avoid commenting on the merits of the cases, especially as they are subject to appeal in the national courts and the European Court of Human Rights.
At the same time I can’t help but notice:
- Political tensions when the developments came, when President Dan and the PSD are battling for PNL and USR votes to get the Veștea Government through Parliament.
- The Liberals are having an extraordinary congress in a few days where some members loyal to the Romanian president and the PSD will be excluded.
- The lightening speed with which a provincial court delivered a ruling. Coincidentally, the case is connected to the Liberals days before its extraordinary congress.
- What is more bizarre is that a court censors a political decision of a democratic party in an apparently European democracy. The Liberals appear to be an irresistible magnet for the interference of the most important players of the day – from the Presidency to the Justice system.
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t appreciate the few occasions in which the Romanian justice system moves quickly and decisively.
It’s just that in Romania where major cases escape convictions, charges, or avoid fully executing their sentences, Thursday’s judicial frenzy does not fit the big picture at all.
It seems that the diligence of the Ilfov Tribunal on Thursday was parachuted out of another world, purely ruling on internal party politics. Celerity is not represent a strong point of the Romanian justice and the public sees that, in domestic and international reports.
I won’t yet speculate which country-model we are sliding towards, but based on Thursday’s events, that old flaws of the justice system are aggressively returning to the news. And the political game can be seen at key moments like this,
Romania has a traumatic experience in terms of cohabitation between politics and institutions, and it’s quite normal to be suspicious when there are coincidences like these ones.
In order to add an extra layer of darkness to Black Thursday, for the first time President Nicușor Dan hinted he would not mind if the Vestea government got AUR. What did he say?: “That’s a question for the Prime Minister”.
On Wednesday (link at the end) I reproached the president for his defiant silence on this subject. From Thursday, we can reproach him for finally opening his mouth.
It seems that the investiture of Veștea and the destruction of the PNL are the strategic objectives of what Nicușor Dan hopes will be his first term (in fact, the head of state has not so far shown himself real determination on any major issue – from justice to the economy; with the notable exception of foreign policy, it’s true, where Nicușor Dan pulls the country towards MAGA-Trump with a determination that, at a certain point, would have made George Simion envious).
Therefore, given the presidential obsession with the Veștea Government and breaking up the PNL, perhaps Nicușor Dan should explain himself publicly.
Because in the light of the way he has performed s president, what was publicly known about Nicușor Dan’s plans and objectives as president has become obsolete.
- PS: The appetite for work of the Romanian justice system, so manifest on Thursday, is also worth noting through the ironic prism of Monday’s resounding “success”, when in the “August 10” case, the heads of the Gendarmerie were acquitted, accused of the violent repression of the protest at that time. Speaking of celerity: not only were no high level culprits identified in the “August 10” case, but it took eight years not to find them.
PHOTOS | Romania’s political crisis deepens after Bucharest mayor named suspect in bribery case
