It’s no love between social-democrats (PSD) and national liberal party (PNL), but at least the two are linked by an open alliance destined to defeat the ruing party (PDL) and its current allies such as UDMR and UNPR. It’s no love, it’s just a marriage of interest.

On the other hand, all the others seem to be interested in PNL. President Traian Basescu calls the two opposition leaders (including liberal Crin Antonescu) as childish and unable to lead the country. However he insists an efficient ruling coalition could be made up by PDL and PNL. As always PM Emil Boc supports the president’s ideas and stresses he is interested in an alliance with PNL. On the other hand the two, as well as many others from the ruling party, blame endlessly PNL for ruining the economy during 2008.

Everybody’s got a crush on PNL. Open or expressed under cover. Even the so-called reformists within PDL, the ones criticizing compromises, pleading for reforms and maybe a new party leadership, seem to the same stand. They criticize the incumbent liberal leaders, but they won’t say no to an agreement with them.
How comes that?

Meanwhile, there is some turmoil within PNL. Former Fin Min, liberal Varujan Vosganian, calls on liberals to give former PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu a more important position within the opposition party. Some liberals are dissatisfied with the USL alliance drawn up with social-democrats. Rumors come and go about dozens or maybe hundreds of liberals ready to leave the party to join PDL.

But the most intriguing rumor is the one about liberal businessman Dinu Patriciu. It is known his relationship with Antonescu is not a good one. Patriciu says he won’t leave the party. He was the one insisting, during the time, for a PNL-PSD alliance. Now that it is done he says the new alliance has no future. More than that, the paper he owns, “Adevarul,” has recently changed a little bit the ‘general direction’, especially the political one. More news about the achievements of the ruling party officials are printed everyday.

What could that mean? Is it that the so-called understanding between president Traian Basescu and Dinu Patriciu is beginning to shape up? It is said, the rumors go, Patriciu would get off all judicial accusations, he is to buy some terminal in the Constanta Port at a bargaining price. On the other hand he would support the forming of a new liberal party, an exodus of current liberals to PDL and other parties… and so on.

Maybe this is the explanation for the constant interest in Romanian liberals. Or perhaps all is nonsense. I hope it is.

Maxy