Europe, Headlines

ROMANIA: Grand Coalitions, Little Hope

Claudia Ciobanu

BUCHAREST, Dec 30 2008 (IPS) - The new year will bring 'grand coalitions' in government in both Romania and Bulgaria. In spite of politicians' claims that a new union between left and right in both countries aims "to safeguard the best interests of the people" in times of crisis, the new coalitions are more likely another sign that decision-makers pursue self-interest above all.

After bitter negotiations following the Nov. 30 general elections in Romania, a new government has finally been formed by the main centre-left force, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party (PDL). Each of the parties received about 33 percent of the vote. The other important centre-right force in Romania, the National Liberal Party (PNL), and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania, have been pushed into opposition.

PDL, a party built around the figure of President Traian Basescu, and PNL, the party of former prime minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, had formed the previous government, until a personal struggle between the two political leaders forced PDL to enter the opposition in the spring of 2007.

In 2004, when this centre-right government was formed, one of its main stated aims was to completely get rid of the "communist past" of Romania – by relegating PSD (the offspring of the Communist Party) to the opposition, pursuing neo-liberal economic reforms, and cleansing public life of any figures connected to the old regime.

At the end of December 2006, the parliament adopted 'The Tismaneanu Report', an analysis commissioned by President Basescu, meant to present a comprehensive overview of the crimes committed by the communist regime, and which concluded in a stern "condemnation of communism".

The PDL-PNL government was also keen to present itself as a crusader against corruption. Monica Macovei, a non-partisan figure, was named minister of justice, and she indeed promoted anti-corruption legislation, that was praised by the European Union (EU). One of the high-level political leaders to be investigated for corruption during the Macovei term was Adrian Nastase from PSD, who was prime minister 2000-2004.

This dichotomy between right and left, reformists and the old regime, anti-corruption and corrupted, so strongly promoted by the PDL-PNL government and by President Basescu, started collapsing right after Romania joined the EU Jan. 1, 2007. Minister Macovei was dismissed, and a majority of parliamentarians from PSD and PNL joined forces to bring down Basescu, who they accused of overstepping his constitutional mandate. A popular referendum helped keep Basescu in power at the time.

The configuration of the new PSD-PDL government further erodes any ideological distinctions between the main political forces in the country. Former arch-rivals are now sharing power.

According to Prime Minister Emil Boc (leader of the PDL and a close political ally of Basescu), the new government is a sign that political parties have left past conflicts behind to unite for the good of the country. "In these difficult times, this partnership represents a chance to do politics in a novel way," declared Boc as soon as he was appointed prime minister. "A new politics in which decency and responsibility prevail over empty words and struggles, to the benefit of the people."

But most analysts see the new alliance more as a betrayal of reformist ideals than as salvation for the country. Commentator Gerard Delaloye wrote in the Dec. 29 edition of Swiss daily Le Temps: "In principle, but only in principle, PSD is a leftist party and PDL is a rightist one. But the common ideology of both parties is to get rich and do it fast."

A similar scenario is expected to unfold in Bulgaria after the general elections in June 2009. The country is already led by a 'grand coalition' made up of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), the smaller centre-right National Movement Simeon II (the maverick party created by former king Simeon II of pre-communist Bulgaria) and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms representing the Turkish minority.

Since this government was formed in 2005, a new political force emerged, propelled largely by the popularity of the mayor of Sofia, Boyko Borisov. Borisov's party, Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB, established in December 2006, just before the first elections for the European Parliament in Bulgaria), is at the moment the most popular political force in the country, on the strength of its anti-government and anti-corruption position.

In late October, after the EU cut funding for Bulgaria on account of high-level corruption, GERB presented the Prosecutor's office with evidence that Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev had met privately with Mario Nikolov, one of the main Bulgarian businessmen accused of defrauding EU money by the EU Anti-Fraud Office. GERB has also been the main organisers of citizen campaigns asking for early elections. On a call by this party in October, close to a million signatures were reportedly collected in an urn placed in front of the parliament in Sofia, in support of a symbolic order to dismiss the Socialist-led government.

Bulgarian analysts predict a GERB-BSP alliance after the 2009 elections. "GERB is leading in the polls but it will not have enough votes to form the government single-handedly, so it is likely to finally make an alliance with the Socialists," political scientist Nenad Dikov from the South-West University in Blagoevgrad in Bulgaria told IPS.

"GERB has been trying to present itself as a reformist, rightist party, but in reality it is merely a populist force, whose strength comes from the disenchantment of people with the older political forces," says Dikov. "Their ambiguous agenda will show even more after the next elections, because they will be ready for an alliance with anyone able to get them in power.

"We finished with communism, we are members of the European Union, but where are we going?" said Dikov. "We are still marred by corruption, and cannot trust our political leaders." (END/IPS/EU/IP/UE/CC/SS/08)