He vows not to leave PNL and dispels rumours about building a new political grouping, denying also reconciliation with Traian Basescu.
Dinu Patricu of the National Liberal Party (PNL) told Realitatea TV Saturday that his stand on the Social-Liberal Union (USL) is one of respect in the vein of that showed by any body who contributed to a given “structure”.
He therefore refutes rumours saying he would part ways with the Liberal camp, making the point he is not interested getting involved in “political games”, even if he sees a new party being set up as something likely to happen. “I have the respect I cannot help but having for a structure to whose origin I have contributed myself. Therefore, don’t count on my leaving the PNL, I’m not going to set up any other party, neither to get involved in political games. However, I believe that outside politics, parties, the could be civic movements such as the Civil Alliance used to be, which made the mistake of turning into a party,” Realitatea.net quoted Patriciu as saying.
Referring to his relations with the USL leadership, Patriciu said that, while it could be very good, “they are sporadic nonetheless”. “Yet, I had a big problem with the ideas right from the start, since USL would have been useful only if the USL programme were a liberal one, of quick reform and not compromise, an ersatz somewhere between the left and the right, between social-democracy and liberalism,” he said, adding that even if the USL were to come to power, nothing would change, as there runs the risk of their carrying on the “undue measures” passed by the current Executive. “All the three groupings < USL groupings> have their roots in the European Socialist bureaucratic thinking,” the Liberal businessman argues.
Patriciu repeated he has no intention to support yet another political party: There are people with a truly Liberal thinking in all the three groupings, and mainly outside political groupings, which are rejected by 50 per cent of the population. (…) As far as I am concerned, I have better things to do. I’m not either at the forefront or behind <a new party>, I have always been transparent, this is my weakness, all sorts of legends have emerged,” Patriciu also said, who was critic of the ruling government too. “It falls between two stools. They profess being right-wing or signal right, yet they turn left,” Patriciu said, unhappy, yet again, with the policies adopted at the demand of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Also, Dinu Patriciu recanted national media hearsay about his alleged “reconciliation” with the head of state. “I haven’t made it up with Basescu. The rumours emerged since I try to be unbiased, as a commentator, given I’m not a politician… I take no interest in any political position… And then, I sometimes happen to take the half-measures of this Government as being on the right track. As with the Labour Code, to give you one example. I’m not an anti-Basescu diehard, I’m a diehard Liberal,” Patriciu said.
Commenting on Patriciu’s stand, PDL MEP Cristian Preda said the businessman is a critic of USL because any relation with the word ‘socialism’ seems to him as lack of honour. ‘On the other hand, for Traian Basescu the criticism is a consequence of his own experience with PSD. For Basescu USL needs to be stopped due to PSD’s falseness,’ Preda said yesterday.
”Euro is on its last legs, bnr is wrong having euro adoption as its target”
Also, Dinu Patriciu holds that the National Bank of Romania (BNR) makes a big mistake setting the adoption of the euro as its target, given the euro is “on its last legs”, sooner or latter. According to Patriciu, introduction of the single European currency was an “abusive, useless and noxious” measure: “After the euro was introduced, a competitiveness gap was instated between the north and the south of the Continent. You can’t put different cultures under a similar monetary umbrella…. Given this competitiveness gap, a Greek, Romanian, Italian or Spaniard would never have the kind a productivity a German has”.
