Liberal Reforming Party (PLR) Chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu (photo L) and Conservative Party (PC) Chairman Daniel Constantin signed on Friday the merger protocol of the two political parties at the Parliament Palace.
Delegates participating in the Extraordinary Congress especially convened for the PLR-PC merger on Friday unanimously voted the statute, the political programme of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Party (ALDE) and the merger protocol between the two political entities, Liberal Reforming Party (PLR) and the Conservative Party (PC) respectively.
Thus, according to the Statute of ALDE, the two parties will function based on the parity principle, to be observed in all the PLR and PC branches.
The new party resulted of the PLR-PC fusion will be named the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Party (ALDE) until the next internal elections at national level, and its logo will be “a bird in flight framed by 12 yellow pentagrams in the shape of an incomplete ellipse.”
According to the merger protocol, the local and national elections within the ALDE will take place based on the ALDE Statute, starting with January 1, 2017.
The PLR and PC members are guaranteed the continuity of their seniority. In this respect, 60 days from the date of the final court approval of the registration of the merger protocol, all the documents of both merging parties will be transferred to the party resulted from the merger, to record the cumulated documentation of the members in the National Register of ALDE Members, the document adds.
Tariceanu: ALDE, a Liberal and European political project, which should become a benchmark in today’s Romania
Liberal Reformist Party (PLR) Chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu has told delegates participating in the Extraordinary Congress especially convened for the Liberal Reforming Party (PLR) – Conservative Party (PC) merger on Friday that the new political entity was a ‘Liberal and European’ one, which should become a ‘benchmark’ in today’s Romania.
‘We are launching today an extremely important political project, Liberal and European – ALDE. This is a project meant for a Liberal and democratic Romania, a better Romania, in which each and every citizen’s freedom is respected and defended. ALDE is a project in which I believe, for it is built on a solid base (…) A new path lies before us and I hope that it will be a successful one. I believe that the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats is more than just our parties merged and more than just another Liberal party. ALDE must become an idea and a benchmark in today’s Romania,’ Tariceanu stated on Friday.
He also added that Romanians look at the new political project with hope, because the themes that the PLR-PC leaders have proposed in the latest while represent ‘the very essence of changes Romania is expected to face in the next period.’
Tariceanu also wanted to specify that Romanians are not immigrants in the European countries where they work, they are European citizens who have not only obligations, but also rights, and that the Romanian authorities must not make compromises when it comes to protecting the rights of Romanians to work in Europe.
‘When I speak of the rebirth of the Romanian economy, I also automatically think about the Romanians who created their own business (..) They all want the same thing: more freedom to enterprise and work. I was unpleasantly surprised by the statements made by the Romanian President when he met the British Prime Minister David Cameron, saying, and I hope that I did not get this wrong, that he wanted to introduce some restrictions in respect to the social assistance benefits for Romanians working in the UK (…) Romanians who work abroad, all over Europe, including in the UK, have the same obligations and the same rights. If they are contributors in the UK, if they pay their taxes to the state, then they should also have the same rights as all the other European citizens. Romanians in the UK are not immigrants, they are European citizens. They have rights to defend and the Romanian state shouldn’t make any concessions in this regard,’ said Tariceanu.
ALDE’s Constantin: For the first time European doctrinaire identify of a party is not questioned
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Party (ALDE) co-chairman Daniel Constantin believes it is for the first time in Romania after 1989 when the European doctrinaire identity of a political formation isn’t questioned.
“I am thanking those of the Conservative Party who agreed to do politics on a different level, sacrificed the personal interest for the group interest, wanted that through this merger the Conservative messages and values be heard on a higher level, and not only be heard, but be achieved by a new political force, with a much greater power. It is for the first time, after the year 1989, when the European doctrinaire identity of a party isn’t questioned. ALDE is part of the ALDE European family and, more than that, proposes to promote the European democratic values as the Romanian citizens have legitimately expected in this period, after 1989,” Daniel Constantin said at the Liberal Reformist Party (PLR) – Conservative Party (PC) merger Congress.
He maintains that he started to think about the new project following the political polarization that began after November 16 and the ALDE can be built in such manner in which it can weigh in the electoral equation of 2016.
“Mostly after the moment of November 16, 2016, the political polarization has started and it will continue to grow. The growing polarization tends to, unfortunately, bring exaggerated positions in the public debate: be them from the left wing or from the right wing. Populism and lack of compassion are only two of the dangers that can emerge as a result of this bipolar political system. We want to be a force of balance, we reject the slogans lacking content, we reject the abstract programmes in the name of some pompous ideas. We strongly believe that the idea of national interest is devoid of any content if it isn’t grounded, if it doesn’t have at its foundation the fundamental rights and freedoms of the citizens. (…) ALDE can be a credible alternative to the big political blocks. (…) We can build so that in 2016 this party matters in the electoral equation,” Constantin added
Ponta to new party congress: Need to unite Liberal ideas to Conservative balance
Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Friday communicated the delegates of the Liberal Reforming Party (PLR) and Conservative Party (PC) attending an extraordinary congress for the merger of the two parties that, in his opinion, the Romanian political scene needed a party to unite “the force of the Liberal ideas with the balance of the Conservatives and the specific social approach.”
“Although I cannot be by your side today for medical reasons, I communicate you that I appreciate your effort of building a centrist political force. The Romanian political scene needs a party to unite the force of the Liberal ideas with the balance of the Conservatives and the specific social approach. Although I am the president of a centre-leftist party and our values might not have always overlapped, we have managed to work together very well in the past years because we have placed above all else the Romanians’ interests, the wish to strengthen the state, to build a model of economic growth and a social model by which we should overcome the years of hatred, bickering, division that harmed Romania so much,” the Social Democrat (PSD) leader said in a message read by PSD Secretary General Andrei Dolineaschi.
Ponta also underscored that he has confidence both in PLR leader Calin Popescu-Tariceanu and Conservative head Daniel Constantin.
“I want us to carry further together the model that we created, the Social Liberal Union, namely policies of economic growth, of boosting the creation of new jobs, policies by which we should help those in need. It is a model that has been successful over these years and has made Romania a stable country, with a sound economy, one our partners are looking at in admiration,” the prime minister stressed, according to Agerpres.
