Basescu, the retired and the plane

The President of Romania Traian Basescu attended yesterday's Congress to establish the Federation of Romanian Retired Associations and he did it in order o explain his view on the pension law. His messy dialogue with the Romanian retired got applause, opposition and reproaches and it was difficult for the President to keep it under control.
President insists on financial source
The head of state reiterated obsessively his request that the government should mention the financial source for the pension raise due in 2009. He argued: "I can avoid you, if I want to. But I see my mother and parents-in-law every day and it will be hard for me to say 'I lied to you, mother!' " He meant a possibility such as the government not keeping the promise.
The retired would ask him questions at the same time and then they queued for the microphone. One retired woman complained her neighbor's pension was larger and a man who had been a coxswain addressed the President with "Commander" (which pleased him), asking why weren't the additions taken into account for pensions. Basescu suggested they should put it on the Federation's agenda, as he himself would be a beneficiary of it too. The President had several suggestions for the retired there, the most important one pressure on the government so that they would provide a clear and detailed account of the financial sources for the pension raise "Otherwise, you are running the risk of postponements and in the end they will tell you priorities are different", the President concluded.
He thus admitted his concern about the impact of a possibly unkept promise on his own popularity: "My mandate is over in December 2009 and I don't want you to say I lied when promulgating the law." The audience was in frenzy when the head of state announced his preference for the elimination of discrimination from the pension system. He was cheered for "I am a true adept of the unification of the pension system".
Toy aircraft, the Voiculescu kind
But presently things didn't continue as harmoniously. The most embarrassing moment was when he was handed in a paper plane as gift to reproach him for the acquisition of a new presidential aircraft. He commented: "I knew I would get this plane because you talked to Voiculescu and, together with Mr. Iliescu, he encouraged you to do this. But if it is a joke, I give you two more to make. This is the first, maybe there are more coming up".
Still it didn't prevent an elderly lady from reproaching him that the money paid to buy planes could have been used to raise the pensions of the Romanian disabled. Basescu replied: "Nowadays the President flies by a plane built 32 years ago. I don't know how many Romanians would step on such a plane".
The retired attending the meeting were also displeased with the President's reticence to the redistributing of some funds set for development to the social insurance budget. "Money has been wasted on transports", someone cried out in the room.

Adrian Ilie
Ziua Sambata 28 Iulie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english