Discontent with the parliamentary strike declared by the USL over an indefinite time interval, following the failure of negotiations between power and opposition over dissolving the Parliament and holding early elections, the representatives of PDL decided to defeat their political opponents with their own weapons. The Democrat-Liberals will distribute in the constituencies represented by opposition legislators posters displaying their photographs, along with the messages “He is one of the slackers!” and “They are on luxury strike, paid with your money!” “Instead of coming to work, they are missing and the Romanian state pays RON 1.4 M each month for their absence. (…) Nobody ever heard of slackers paid with EUR 1.4 M a month. This is a political phenomenon which we condemn and I find it normal for people to know,” the secretary general of PDL, Ioan Oltean said in a press conference, quoted by Mediafax. The Democrat-Liberal also said that no deputy or senator of the opposition “gave up even RON 1 during this strike” and “they all come and sign the timesheet, so they receive both the session bonus and the daily travel allowance.” Additionally, he accused USL of blackmailing the power, as it will return in Parliament only if certain conditions set by the opposition are met (if the government will stop taking responsibility in Parliament, if Roberta Anastase is replaced in the position of speaker of the Chamber of Deputies etc.). Oltean also said that he never heard about such a form of protest (an allusion to the parliamentary strike) in the democratic world.In the same press conference, Oltean presented posters with images of PSD and PNL MPs that represent the county of Bistrita-Nasaud – PSD Deputy Emil Radu Moldovan, PSD Senator Danut Prunea, PNL Deputy Ioan Tintean. Each poster displayed the message, written in white against a red background: “The PSD+PNL+PC members of the Parliament entered a luxury strike!” along with another message, written with black letters, in bold: “They do not want to work, but want to receive: bonuses, cars, hotel accommodation, and travel allowances,” and – with smaller letters: “In total, the PSD+PNL+PC parliamentarians spend EUR 1.4 M each month from state money! This is what you, the average Romanian, pay to keep the deputies and senators which prefer to strike, rather than do their job in Parliament.”Not all Democrat-Liberals seem to support the initiative taken by Ioan Oltean. Such an example is the president of PDL Suceava, Gheorghe Flutur who said that no poster with the MPs of the opposition which do not go to work will be distributed in his county. “We don’t need posters. People know they are absent from job,” Flutur said.psd local leader deems oltean’s initiative as desperateThe leader of PSD Bistrita-Nasaud and spokesman of the party, Deputy Emil Radu Moldovan considers the initiative of Ioan Oltean of printing posters with the “slacker” MPs of the opposition as “a desperate attempt.” Moldovan comments the idea in a press release issued Friday: “Although I am not surprised by Ioan Oltean’s intention to discredit the USL decision not to legitimise an illegal government, I consider his initiative as (…) a clearly desperate attempt.” According to Moldovan, Oltean misinforms the public by omitting to speak about the decision of USL legislators to donate their wages while they do not attend proceedings in Parliament.
