Nicusor Dan finally sent out a message that was partly correct, partly incorrect and very late
It was a short, dry, repetitive message and the president was very irritated, but basically there was nothing new in the “big” announcement made on Wednesday evening by President Nicușor Dan.
The head of state scolded the country’s political parties accusing them of caring only about their own childish interests such as the 2028 parliamentary elections, while he, the president, is dealing with the world of grown-ups, trying to avoid the country’s economic collapse and keeping the country’s pro-Western direction.
Nicușor Dan seemed worried, and asked Romanians to remain calm and hopeful and then he left.
Through this frugal but sticky exercise of public communication, Nicușor Dan did not let on that he is angrier with the PNL and USR than with PSD, that the only solution for him is the Tomac government, but that the Tomac government hasn’t managed to gather the votes it needs to be sworn in.
In other words: there was presidential stubbornness across the board and presidential blockage on all levels.
Placing things in a broader context, it should be noted that the president has become extremely talkative on the subject of the parties’ selfish-electoral calculations, but only after the May 5 motion, in other words when it matters less. Yet the president was suspiciously silent on the subject of the electoral selfishness of say the PSD prior to the motion, in a period when if he had been more communicative, it could have had an impact and would have potentially prevented the drift of PSD-Grindeanu to AUR.
Somehow, it seems that Nicușor Dan was asleep before May 5, not bothering to stop the PSD quietly preparing the demolishment of a functional government.
And he suddenly woke up, when all that was left was for the president to say that he is sorry and there is no reasonable horizon to stop being sorry, and to ask the blameless (i.e PNL and USR) to get him out of trouble, to protect the guilty PSD and to give empty reassurances to Romanians and foreign partners that things will be fine.
On Wednesday, the president’s anger was palpable, and his tone portrayed an acute fear of failure like never before.
It is understandable that Nicușor Dan feels this, as data show things are really against him. It is incomprehensible, however, why Nicușor Dan passively witnessed the brewing of the current crisis and after it occurred, he went down the wrong path both from a political and legitimate point of view.
On Wednesday, the president gave a partially correct message – he is right to be worried, and the diagnosis that dialogue between the parties is fractured is also correct. But it was also a partially incorrect message – because it is incorrect to omit (again) mentioning the culprit for the situation created, the PSD, and to leave the impression (again) that all parties are the same mess.
But the most painful thing to note is the fact that Nicușor Dan’s message came with a long delay: at least a month and a half, even two and maybe three months late.
