Eurasia Press & News
The battle for inclusion on the EU election lists of Romania’s main political parties has reached new heights as a 28 February registration deadline approaches. The prospect of salaries five times higher than those of current Romanian MEPs appears to be an irresistible incentive.
A “war of candidates” is raging between the major parties in the government coalition – the Democratic–Liberal Party (PDL) and Social Democratic Party (PSD) – and the opposition National Liberal Party (PNL), as the deadline for filing candidates’ CVs is set to expire tomorrow (28 February).
Too many candidates, not enough seats
In the PNL party in particular, matters appear to be extremely crowded. The party expects to receive a possible seven seats, but a multitude of ministers, leaders who failed to make it into the national parliament and current MEPs are all struggling to get on board.
As for President Traian Băsescu’s PDL, party sources said his daughter Elena, a 28-year-old model, will be given an eligible mandate. At present, Elena Băsescu is a stagiare in the EU assembly, where she worked for ex-MEP Monica Iacob Ridzi, who has since become a government minister. The PDL can expect to win twelve MEP seats if it performs as well as it did in recent parliamentary elections.
“There are three types of candidate,” party sources explained, describing potential MEPs as either “heavyweights”, those pushed forward by national politicians and finally current MEPs. An obvious PDL ‘heavyweight’ is current MEP Teodor Stolojan, who was recently offered the post of prime minister but has a record of choosing not to accept appointments at the last-minute.
Alongside Basescu, other candidates that can be considered “heavyweights” include Cristian Preda, counsellor to the president, and several other leaders.
As for the PSD, which has hopes to receive 12-13 seats, all of its current 10 MEPs plan to run for another term. A party source said attempts will be made to eliminate MEPs considered too close to former PSD leader Ion Iliescu. The names mentioned in this bracket are Corina Cretu, Ioan Mircea Pascu and Adrian Severin.
However, Severin and Cretu reportedly said they had presented their candidacies again, insisting that their country needs people with experience and highlighting their trust in the party leadership.
