Former ALDE leader Daniel Constantin (photo R) posted a message on his Facebook page on Sunday, criticising the ALDE party congress in which Calin Popescu Tariceanu was elected party president.
“I regret to note, after yesterday too, that Mr Tariceanu hasn’t understood anything from the talks/criticism of recent weeks about his wider political behaviour. By lying, he continues to try to cover up the abuses he is committing! He tried to secure the presidency for himself by acting against those who stood by his side, trampling honour and respect and, moreover, then asking why they betrayed! It’s like in that famous joke in which you push someone down the stairs and then ask why they’re in such a hurry! However, this isn’t the first time when, in the name of an “authentic Liberalism,” he provokes divisions and betrayals, irredeemably blemishing, through the longevity of these actions, the entire post-1989 Romanian political class. I hereby remind you the episodes of 1991, 2006, 2014 and 2017,” Daniel Constantin wrote on his Facebook page.
Daniel Constantin added he “cannot be bought with offices,” pointing out that had things been different he would still have held “offices such as the office of Deputy Prime Minister.”
“I regret that Tariceanu hasn’t understood, not even in the 11th hour, the reasons that fundamentally separate us. I’m not engaged in politics for offices, so I can’t be bought with offices either. Otherwise, today I’d have been by his side in offices such as the office of Deputy Prime Minister. I chose to sacrifice these offices for the people, not wanting to learn the lesson that “president” Tariceanu taught and encouraged me to learn.
“Even now he fails to understand that I condemned lying and hypocrisy, the defining traits of his behaviour. This is also the reason why I carried out the legal overtures. Against him, not against the party.
“The ALDE Congress that Tariceanu ordered will unfortunately remain a blemish impossible to erase from his political career! Another one…,” Constantin concluded.
Tariceanu, the sole candidate, elected as the ALDE President
Calin Popescu-Tariceanu was elected on Saturday, at the Congress of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) held at the Parliament Palace, as the President of the party, with 1,065 “pros” and 29 “cons”, being the only candidate for this position. The ALDE leading team also includes 16 Vice Presidents and 17 simple members.
Tariceanu was elected as the sole ALDE President with 1,065 votes out of the total number of 1,094 votes.
The ALDE leading team also includes 16 Vice Presidents: Gratiela Gavrilescu, Vice PM and the Minister of Environment in the Grindeanu Government; Teodor Melescanu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Andrei Gerea; Varujan Vosganian; Constantin Avram; Steluta Cataniciu; Toma Petcu, the Energy Minister; Ovidiu Silaghi; Alexandru Baisanu; Ioan Tintean; Mihai Nita; Marian Cupsa; Mircea Molot; Ion Cupa; Nicolae Nasta and Dumitru Lovin.
The voting process and the centralization of the results lasted more than six hours, although the voting was performed by electronic means. However, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu said that the voting system worked impeccably.
“It’s the first time when we used an electronic voting mechanism that I liked, it works very well and releases us of a work which otherwise would have been exhausting and which would have probably made us stay here later than midnight”, he stated.
At the end, Tariceanu congratulated those who were elected to the party leadership.
“I believe, from what I’ve heard, from the quick presentation of the results, that those having a good notoriety in the party and outside the party, had a clear advantage in the competition and took the first places. I now that many of you tried to get their support. I only want to congratulate those of you who have achieved results that propel you in the party leadership. How can we expect to get the votes from outside of the party, if we are not capable to get our votes? It’s a living body, people are campaigning inside”, the ALDE President also added.
ALDE adopted 4 resolutions at the Congress: The powers, balanced around the Parliament, are the last redoubt of democracy
The ALDE delegates voted four Resolutions at the Congress held on Saturday; one of them mentions that “the most urgent” political mission is the restauration of the Liberal constitutionalism and organizing the powers by balancing them around the Parliament, “as the single source of Law and supreme control authority”.
The text of the resolution entitled “For a political culture of freedom” mentions that ALDE’s main political objective is to implement an institutional system focused on individual rights and to develop a national political community organized in the wider European framework, according to the principles of the civic, political and economic freedoms, and of the social justice and solidarity”.
ALDE proposes a political project based on the relationship between freedom, democracy and prosperity.
Also, in the view of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, the individual is not called to serve the state, but on the contrary, the state is the one who is meant to ensure the respect of the individual rights and freedoms, providing a stable and predictable framework for the cooperation between free and equal people.
For ALDE, “the most urgent political mission is the restoration of the Liberal constitutionalism and organizing powers by balancing them around the Parliament, as the single source of Law and supreme control authority. The Parliament remains the only guarantor of the people’s rights and freedoms and the last redoubt of democracy”, also reads the quoted document.
The ALDE delegates also adopted the resolution called “The law in the service of the citizen, not against him”.
“We consider that the people’s possibility to know the laws has become, in the last years, a difficult issue, so ALDE assumes to achieve the following objectives: starting a process of legislative systematization and simplification; republishing certain laws to avoid the conflict of laws; starting a codification process of certain provisions currently included in many laws and Government’s decisions; creating, through the Ministry for the Relation with Parliament, a free legislative portal which enables people to know the law”, the quoted document provides.
In the resolution entitled “To be able to be through ourselves, first of all we have to be ourselves” mentions that ALDE refuses to consider Romania as being part of the EU’s periphery.
“ALDE believes that a powerful Europe is a Europe of nations. There are voices saying that, in order to take one step forward, certain countries don’t have to wait the others to which there are certain gaps. These opinions see EU as having a center, made up of more developed countries, and a periphery. ALDE refuses to consider Romania as being part of the EU’s periphery” reads the mentioned resolution.
A last resolution voted by ALDE refers to the economic area and provides the support of several priorities, such as allocating 6% of the GDP for investments by 2020, and elaborating a unitary strategy for the large investments through the Sovereign Development and Investment Fund (FSDI).
The ALDE Congress mandates the new leadership to support, in the coming period, the following priorities: promoting the legislative projects that support the economic field (for instance – the Economic Code, the Prevention law and the Law of Lobby and Interest Register); urgently elaborating the General Urban Planning of the localities; the Inventory of the state’s assets that can be reintroduced in the economic circuit; implementing the National Irrigation Strategy; a national program for the digital society; renouncing to the minimum guaranteed income; supporting Romanian investors abroad; elaborating a national strategy in the Brexit context, shows the Resolution called “The new generation of Romanian entrepreneurs must feel at home in Romania”.
“Daniel Constantin’s betrayal hurts me, but it is an ending episode “
Calin Popescu-Tariceanu stated on Saturday, from the tribune of the party’s Congress,, that he is “hurt” by the fact that his former partner in the leadership of the party, Daniel Constantin, is one of those who attack ALDE from inside, and his “betrayal” is a sad, but ending episode.
“In 2015, I had beside me a number of colleagues who chose to attack and even sue the party. Those who attack ALDE from inside now are not many, but I am honestly telling you that it hurts me that Daniel Constantin is one of them. For me, this betrayal is a sad episode, but in the same time it is an ending episode. Now is the time to look ahead, but obviously, learning from the past. This is why I advise you all: rely your ambitions on goals and values, not on positions: Calin Popescu-Tariceanu stated.
ALDE Co-President Daniel Constantin announced he will not be present at the Congress held on Friday and Saturday, convened by Tariceanu wing, which he says it’s not statutory, being organized to serve one man’s interest. Daniel Constantin claims he has “a powerful, solid team, prepared to fight for democratic principles”.
“PNL is now led by a reincarnation of Bill Kill, the one who killed the last remains of liberalism”
The ALDE leader Calin Popescu-Tariceanu attacked on Saturday, in his speech at the party Congress, the party he led and whose member he was until 2014, PNL, saying that it is led by a “reincarnation of Bill Kill, the one who killed the last remains of liberalism in the party”.
“We have a difficult road ahead, but with a lot of work, courage and consistency, we will achieve the results that all of us are seeing (…) I am convinced that ALDE will become the most important center-right party in Romania and it will outweigh PNL in the next electoral cycle. Unfortunately, I am sorry for PNL”, Tariceanu said.
He added that PNL is now led “by a reincarnation of Bill Kill, the one who killed the last remains of liberalism in the party”.
“Being a Liberal in PNL has become a crime that is punished with isolation. No wonder that the few party members who still believe in the liberal values and principles are marginalized” Cain Popescu-Tariceanu stated.
Thus, the ALDE leader most likely referred to certain statements since 2010 of the PNL Interim President Raluca Turcan, when she said , as a PDL member, that Elena Udrea “has power, she has energy, she has courage”, and by looking at her, she sees that “she can be a real Kill Bill of the Romanian politics”.
“We had a binomial – Ceausescu and Lenuta. In 2015, we were in danger to have another binomial – Coldea and Codruta”
The ALDE leader Calin Popescu-Tariceanu criticized on Saturday, from the tribune of the party Congress, “the abuses” of certain force institutions “masked” in the anti-corruption fight, making a parallel between the communist period, when we had the Ceausescu and Lenuta binomial, and the current period, when, “in 2015, we were in danger to have another binomial, Coldea and Codruta”.
“We are at a crossroads. The fact that today are unveiled hundreds of cases of abuses similar to the ones committed against Mariana Rarinca, doesn’t guarantee that they will not repeat. You know that we had a binomial in the communist period: Ceausescu and Lenuta. In 2015, we were in danger to have another binomial, Coldea and Codruta” Calin Popescu-Tariceanu stated.
He explained that in 2017 it seems like “this danger has significantly decreased”, but he still has dozens of questions related to the involvement of some key-persons in the political and democratic life, since they “created a parallel, undemocratic, illegitimate and corrupt power system in Romania”.
“Hardly fighting against corruption, even surpassing the plan, a number of institutions called to fight against this scourge have become themselves to be affected by a very dangerous virus for democracy, namely corruption of power. I am hearing a say lately more and more often: the state is us. I want to say loud and clear: us can only mean people and their representatives elected by vote. The state is us must not refer to a bunch of people without democratic legitimacy who decide the result of the elections at a glass of wine and who censure the political, social or economic decisions. Romania’s future depends on our force to strengthen democracy, to have powerful institutions and leaders elected by democratic vote and who have the freedom and courage to exercise the power given by people” Tariceanu added at the ALDE Congress.
He also spoke about the protest occurred early this year, saying that young people have been used as “mass of maneuver”.
“Unfortunately, we are also responsible for this state of affairs. We haven’t find the ways to efficiently communicate to the new generation of young people and we let their disappointment to be maneuvered and manipulated without scruples. And they used these young people as mass of maneuver” Calin Popescu-Tariceanu concluded.
Tariceanu added that this reminds of the communist period.
“I remember that in the 90s, young people were caught up in a fierce attitude of the binomial since the communist period, namely Ceasuescu and Lenuta. Now I saw with stupor, I couldn’t believe when I saw many young people supporting the binomial formed by Coldea and Codruta. Unfortunately they don’t understand the danger of violating the people’s rights and freedoms because, unlike young people of the early 90s, they haven’t lived the traumatic experience of communism” explained the ALDE Co-President.
PSD leaders were absent from the ALDE Congress. Tariceanu: They have a very, very busy agenda
The ALDE leader Calin Popescu-Tariceanu stated on Saturday, related to the PSD’s absence from the Congress, that the Social-Democrats have a “very, very busy” agenda, marked by the commitments they assumed in the government program, and their absence must not be interpreted in any other way.
Asked why nobody from PSD was present at the Congress and why they didn’t send a video message, as UDMR did, Tariceanu said that Social-Democrats have a “very, very busy” agenda.
“I believe that you have to take into account that all of us have a very, very busy agenda, marked by the commitments we assumed, and this must be interpreted this way, and not in any other way” Calin Popescu-Tariceanu answered.
Kelemen Hunor says ‘partnership’ best describes ALDE – UDMR relation
Chairman of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) Kelemen Hunor, in a video message sent on Saturday to the Congress of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), characterized the latter’s relationship with the Union as a “partnership”, and ALDE Co-chair Calin Popescu-Tariceanu as “a man of dialogue”.
“For a recently established party, which came into being about one year ago, you scored remarkably well in the local and parliamentary elections. As for the relationship between ALDE and UDMR, it can be characterized by one word: partnership. Calin Popescu-Tariceanu has been a man of dialogue, he was at our side both as a deputy, but also later on when he served as a minister and last but not least, as a Prime Minister. He was a fair partner, he was and remained an open-minded man who understood the problems of the Romanian society and looked for solutions to these problems. Regardless of where we were, either at rule or in opposition, this partnership remained an extremely solid one,” Kelemen Hunor said, praising the fact that despite the two formations not sharing the same area of the political spectrum and belonging to different European political families, the values connecting them are more important than the aspects that separate them.
Kelemen Hunor also conveyed Calin Popescu-Tariceanu to keep his courageous and direct style of doing politics.
“As we have repeatedly seen, when there are visible, significant slippages, it is our obligation and responsibility to get back on track, to the rule of law. We regard this partnership we have built with Calin Popescu-Tariceanu and you, dear members, as a value, it is a benchmark. (…) I sincerely wish you (…) to keep your courageous and direct style of doing politics. This strategy, which often does not pay off immediately and does not raise the party’s popularity, is extremely important for preserving and strengthening the fundamental values of the rule of law. Romania, the Romanian society need the values and visions ALDE stands for,” added Kelemen Hunor.
