Ciuca: It is clear there is no political action support within coalition

Liberal (PNL) president Nicolae Ciuca, said on Tuesday that there is no present support from Social-democrat (PSD) leader Marcel Ciolacu, a support of political actions within the ruling coalition, a reason for which the liberals will have “a similar attitude”.   According to Ciuca, “there are several stands and disengagement ”towards the project concerning the presidency of Romania's president candidacy to parliamentary elections.   The PNL president mentioned that he had the talk about the legislative project with Marcel Ciolacu, not the party. “I spoke with Mr Marcel Ciolacu, not with the party. Therefore, there was an understanding about that,” Nicolae Ciuca said.   Asked whether he still trusted the PSD president, Ciuca said that was a “questionable” aspect. Ciuca added that technical problems within the coalition will be solved “as responsible”as before , but we do not see how, “in these conditions” we could have a calition with PSD after elections.   The law that would have allowed Iohannis to run for the Senate while still president has been delayed. Tuesday, the PSD announced that it will vote against the amendment, and shortly after, the PNL also changed its position, and the law is no longer on the Parliament’s agenda. At the same time, the PNL is now asking for the opinion of the Central Electoral Bureau (BEC) to rule on this amendment.   At the same time, the liberals announced that, following this notification, the PNL will not put the debate of the amendment on the agenda of the Permanent Bureau of the Senate until it receives an answer from the BEC.   Political sources cited by Digi24 Tv state that the PSD will decide today, within the party’s National Permanent Bureau, not to vote on the law submitted by the PNL through which President Klaus Iohannis will be able to run for a seat in the Senate, on the lists of the liberals.   The information was later confirmed by Marcel Ciolacu himself, in a discussion with journalists, this morning. He stated that the Social Democrats will vote against the amendment.   Marcel Ciolacu even called Nicolae Ciuca and told him that the PSD will not vote for the project that would allow Klaus Iohannis to run in the parliamentary elections on December 1.   Without the votes of the social democrats, the liberals have extremely little chance of passing this law, because they would have to coalition all the opposition parties, implicitly taking votes from all of them.   PNL MPs Daniel Fenechiu and Gabriel Andronache submitted, last Wednesday, to the Parliament, a legislative proposal that provides that the president of Romania can run, in the last 3 months of the mandate, as an independent on the lists of a party or alliance in the parliamentary elections.   The draft amends, in this sense, article 52 of the law on the election of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. “The President of Romania, depending on the date of the election of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, if he is in the last 3 months of his mandate, can run as an independent candidate on the lists of a political party, a political alliance or an electoral alliance to obtain a senator’s or deputy’s mandate . If a senator or deputy is elected, the president of Romania is obliged, after validation, to choose between the quality of senator or deputy and that of president”, the draft stipulates.   On Saturday, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu came back with clarifications, stating that he does not think that additional legislation is needed so that President Klaus Iohannis can run for a parliamentary position.   “We will gather the National Permanent Bureau on Monday, to make a decision together with my colleagues, as is correct. On the way, together with Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, we also looked very carefully at the observations of the Legislative Council and we asked our specialists, who have expertise, to give us a point of view as well. At first glance (…) there is no need for additional legislation for the president, if he wants to run, to run. (…) I feel sorry for the coalition colleagues, maybe they should have gone into more depth or consulted, got out of their own circle, consulted with more specialists. If the specialists’ conclusion is the same as the Legislative Council’s observations, we will make a decision. If not, we will take another decision”, Marcel Ciolacu pointed out.