-- "A revision of the Constitution seems indispensable to me (...) We must choose between a parliamentary system and a presidential one, with the possibility for the head of State to dissolve the Parliament" (T.Basescu)
In an interview given to journalist Arielle Thedrel and publiched in "Politique internationale", president Traian Basescu accuses the whole Romanian political class and the most important institutions in Romania, except for the Democrat Party (PD). Here are some excerpts of this interview.
When asked about the reasons three quarters of the PMs wanted to depose him, Traian Basescu listed three reasons. The first is, according to the Romanian president, the fact that he had condemned the crimes of the communist regime in the Parliament on the 7 December 2006. Or, they refused such a gesture since a great number of ex-communists are still active in the political or economic sphere in Romania. The second reason would be the transfer of approximately one million files of the ex-communist secret police Archive to the National Council for Study of the Ex-Communist Secret Service Archive (CNSAS). The third reason is related to the fight against corruption, "one of the priorities" of the president's mandate.
As for what some of the analysts have qualifies as a "parliamentary putsch", Traian Basescu said that it was more than a putsch. He said the action had two stages. At first, with the help of Mircea Geoana, head of the Social Democrat Party, and of lui Ion Iliescu, the PM has eliminated from the Government the ministers proposed by PD as well as the independent Macovei. After PD had been removed from the governing, most of the PMs voted for the president's suspension. (...) Or, the Constitutional Court has ascertained the president hadn't violated any article of the fundamental law.
Traian Basescu said that most of the people incriminated within this crusade against corruption were from the Opposition and also from PD, as the mayors coming from PD had passed "that test", one of them being under arrest and several PD MPs being under investigation as well.
(...)
The president pointed out the fact that it was not about a personal conflict, as this crisis was not a conjectural, but a structural one. In Romania, as well as in other communist countries, the transition to a market economy allowed the coming out, in the 1990s, of an oligarchic system. Some businessmen had rapidly accumulated fortunes with the help of some politicians. These influence networks still persist and they are resistant (...). The State shouldn't be an institution under influence any longer and that is why it is imperative to continue the institutional reform.
Although the resistance to change is still powerful, Romania is not a country close to the Ukraine model, said the President. This recent crisis gives the sensation that Romania keeps belonging to a grey area, somewhere between the West and the East, he added, and that is why we need to get rid of this oligarchic system that had maintained in spite of the country's accession to NATO and EU.
The president accused again the PM of having abandoned the political program that made them win the elections together. (...)
Ziua
Ziua Marti 24 Iulie 2007 http://www.ziua.net/english
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