Deputy Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea (photo R) has been very talkative and visible in the spotlight in recent days, a role that he undoubtedly does not dislike. More than ever, the press and the public opinion have seen Victor Ponta Government’s number-two man intervening almost out of the blue in the political games of the day.
Wanting to prove that he has become an essential piece on the chessboard of Romanian politics, Oprea wanted for it to be known that he had a face-to-face meeting with President Klaus Iohannis last Monday before the President’s consultations with political parties, and then that he negotiated with PNL leaders and, eventually, he announced that he backs Premier Victor Ponta whom he also accompanied during his controversial visit to Baku, stiripesurse.ro shows.
We then found out that he is a big supporter of DNA’s Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, and he directly threatened his partners with instantly leaving the government in case they interfere with the Penal Code and the Penal Procedure Code.
What does Gabriel Oprea’s show of force actually mean?
Political sources state for stiripesurse.ro that his moves in fact mean nothing but hardball negotiations with PSD.
It’s obvious that UNPR would not leave the government at this moment in order to bandwagon PNL. It will remain in government until the end in the context in which Victor Ponta and PSD will entirely depend on him.
The show of force means higher pressure on the Social-Democrats in what concerns next year’s local and general elections. The protocol on whose basis PSD and UNPR will form joint lists of candidates next year is being negotiated intensely and UNPR wants to obtain the most out of these negotiations. According to our sources we are talking about a minimum of 50 MP seats, eligible candidacies.
To that one has to add several county council chairmanships (considering that according to the new law the county council chairman will be elected by county council members) and possibly several county seat municipalities.
Consequently, the whole political ballet performed by General Gabriel Oprea reveals a party that normally could not handle any kind of elections but that will ensure its continued presence at high political level through targeted pressure (some even call it blackmail).
