Ponta says Basescu won’t resign, Hunor deems unserious president’s statement

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The president’s statements regarding a possible resignation along with the resignation of the entire Parliament was not taken seriously by the premier nor by the Hungarian leader.

President Traian Basescu will not give up his office easily. The head of state said Wednesday evening, in a statement delivered at the Cotroceni Palace, that one cannot find solutions for shortening the term of the president if he does not agree. “I also find it extremely difficult to consider a solution where things seem to be pushed only because we have a majority (USL). This majority should stop before the Constitution and they have the lesson of last summer (an allusion to the row that preceded the revocation of the speakers of the two Houses of the Parliament and his suspension). It is not easy to create a precedent the kind of <<we’ll reach an agreement>> or <<we’ll reach or not an agreement, we do as we please, we shorten the term of a president, be it in the last year of the 10,>> because it creates some precedents nobody will ever accept,” Basescu said. He explained that what is going on in the Parliament is “in total contradiction with what Romanians voted in 2009”: instead of 300, we have 600 (MPs).” Asked about the statement of Senate speaker Crin Antonescu, who said that a negotiation is not absolutely necessary before shortening the mandate of the president and that the majority can impose it in the revision of the Constitution, Basescu answered: “It is not enough to have 70 pc, 80 pc, one must also read the Constitution you speak about when you make such statements. I do not think that one can find constitutional solutions for reducing the mandate of the president or Parliament without their acceptance. One cannot find something like this and it will be accepted nowhere, by no democracy.”Premier Victor Ponta said yesterday in Iasi, referring to the statement of President Traian Basescu that he will resign if the members of the Parliament do the same, that the head of state “played tennis” and he does not intend to resign. According to the premier, both he and PNL leader Crin Antonescu will resign from the Parliament if Traian Basescu convinces the legislators of PDL who entered on the second place to do the same gesture. Referring to the proposal to hold the presidential elections earlier, together with the European elections, he mentioned that he expects PDL to think again about what is better for the country, adding that the Democrat-Liberals do not think and have rejected the idea outright. The president of UDMR, Kelemen Hunor considers that the proposals referring to the resignation of the Parliament and shortening the mandate of the president cannot be taken seriously, as there are other problems, much more important, that should be brought to the attention of the public.

The vote for Stan, Borbely, Dobre – back on table

Referring to the meeting held Tuesday evening with the premier and the speakers of the two Houses of the Parliament, Basescu said that the “target” was the problem of Romania’s accession to Schengen, rather than the Mechanism of Cooperation and Verification (MCV), as the media reported. “Knowing how sensitive some states are with regard to the MCV report, I through that we can do something in order to have a positive solution in March,” Basescu mentioned, adding that during the meeting he raised the problem of the Parliament’s vote in the case of deputy Ion Stan and former ministers Laszlo Borbely and Victor Dobre.On the other hand, the head of state described the delay in enforcing the Civil Procedure Code from February 1st to July 1st as “extraordinarily unpleasant,” because it means failing to observe – for the second time – the promise made to the European Commission through the MCV (initially set for enforcement in July 2012, then a new deadline – February 1st 2013 – has been requested).As for the status of the discussion held Tuesday evening with the premier and the speakers of the Houses, the chief of state said this was not public, adding that Victor Ponta did not infringe the institutional cooperation accord, because he reacted after he learned that the news had become public.Asked about the rumours which appeared in PDL about his possible return as chief of this party after the conclusion of his mandate, Basescu joked: “When they do not find a solution, they still think at old Basescu? Let’s get serious!” He added that there is a new generation of politicians in PDL, which must be allowed to manifest itself during the Convention.

The condition for general prosecutor or DNA chief: High-profile cases solved

In order to accept the nominations for the offices of general prosecutor or chief of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), the president posed the condition that the respective person must prove outstanding performance, by solving high-profile cases of corruption and receiving confirmation in court. He added that significant cases solved would represent for him “the signal that the respective prosecutor also enjoys appreciation within the system.” The president added that the transparency he demanded in the nominations for these positions does not mean inviting televisions, an allusion to what Justice minister Mona Pivniceru said with this respect. “First, it means that, through the mechanism of evaluation, you must give prosecutors the signal that it will be a honest decision, making potential candidates feel that you will not choose people easy to manipulate and that you really want to find one prosecutor, two, five prosecutors recognised for having difficult cases which they solved without interferences.”

“We will show solidarity with France”

In a different move, Traian Basescu said that Romania will show solidarity with France, “but those who see us sending troops to Mali are wrong.” Our country can provide the instructors or materials for the army of the African state, he added. As for the hostage crisis of Algeria, he mentioned that Romania did not have an information issue, but one pertaining to “correct processing.” Regarding the fact that our country does not have an ambassador there, the president explained that we have there the best person in such a context, namely the former deputy chief of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Marcel Alexandru.