EX-PM ADRIAN NASTASE OUT, PSD IN DISARRAY AS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 000448

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE BILL SILKWORTH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/15/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI KCRM RO
SUBJECT: EX-PM ADRIAN NASTASE OUT, PSD IN DISARRAY AS
MEMBERS ASK "WHO'S NEXT?"


Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Mark Taplin for Reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).


1. (SBU) Former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase was forced to
resign as Chamber of Deputies President and Executive
President of the main opposition Social Democratic Party
(PSD) after a no-confidence vote during a marathon
nine-hour March 14 special meeting of national and local
PSD leaders. During the meeting and afterwards, PSD
leaders bitterly accused Nastase of damaging the party's
image and dragging the party down in the polls. (Note: One
recent national poll showed only about a 20 percent level
of support for the former ruling party. End Note.)
Nastase publicly proclaimed himself a "scapegoat" and
accused an unnamed "foreign strategist" of "working inside
the party" to orchestrate his downfall. Nastase, who is
currently under criminal investigation for corruption and
has been the focus of extensive media scrutiny since
disclosing a suspicious inheritance, had held onto his
Chamber of Deputies Presidency -- until now.

Barons at the Bar
--------------

2. (C) Although the PSD confab -- which ended at 2 A.M.
March 15 -- focused on Nastase, other PSD heavy-weights,
popularly dubbed "barons", are also in the spotlight. In
January, a commission established to investigate the assets
of public officials determined that former Economy Minister
and ex-Bucharest branch PSD president Dan Ioan Popescu
possessed "unjustified wealth." He now faces a civil
trial. The National Anti-corruption Department (DNA) is
investigating two other PSD barons, ex-Minister of
Transportation and PSD General Secretary Miron Mitrea and
Constanta Mayor Radu Mazare. A number of PSD's lesser
luminaries also face unwelcome investigations, including
PSD deputy Ion Dumitru, former chief of the national forest
department, whose case DNA prosecutors submitted to a trial
court March 1 -- the first case of an MP formally submitted
to a court.


3. (C) PSD Executive Secretary Dan Mihalache recently told
PolOff that the party is "going through an extraordinarily
difficult period" and would hold a "congress this year to
discuss replacement of an entire generation within the
party." Mihalache stressed that the aim of the congress
would be to make the PSD more transparent and less
authoritarian, to bring new people in, and to design and
launch (sometime next year) a new political platform. PSD
leaders insist to us that the attacks against its leaders
are "politically motivated" -- but they also admit that the
general public largely views the PSD as corrupt. In
Mihalache's words, "some of the allegations might be true,"
and the PSD is divided between those who say "defend" and
those who say "kick them out."


4. (C) The Chamber of Deputies will probably vote in
its plenary session next week on who will be the new
President of the Chamber of Deputies. PSD leaders assert
the position "belongs" to their party. The two lead
center-right coalition partners, the National Liberal Party
(PNL) and President Traian Basescu's Democratic Party (PD)
have not agreed (so far, at least) on a joint candidate.
Parliamentary sources assert that a number of high-profile
names are in the hopper, including prominent PNL members
Mona Musca and Bogdan Olteanu. Some PSD solons reportedly
back Valer Dorneanu, Chamber of Deputies President from
2000-2004.


5. (C) Comment: Nastase's fall from grace (and power)
arrives at a moment when the PSD's fortunes have never been
lower. According to PSD officials, the party is currently
divided between a "reformist wing," the "barons," and those
loyal to party founder and ex-President Ion Iliescu. To
some observers, the future of the PSD itself is uncertain.
One PD deputy went so far as to suggest to us that
disaffected PSD members might merge with PD. That said,
it's too soon to write off the PSD, which maintains a
powerful machine, especially in rural areas. Nastase, on
the other hand, has reached a point of no return in a
political career that less than two years ago seemed
destined for the presidency. As if he were not in enough
legal trouble already, Romanian law enforcement sources have
suggested to us that Nastase might find himself the subject
of an indictment in the other high-profile case of the
political moment: namely, Rompetrol. In that way, several
"big fish" -- including Nastase, former Economy Minister
Popescu, as well as Rompetrol's Dinu Patriciu and his
associates -- might be brought to trial as codefendants in one

BUCHAREST 00000448 002 OF 002


spectacular package deal. End Comment.


6. (U) AmEmbassy Bucharest's reporting telegrams are
available on the Bucharest SIPRNet website:
www.state.sgov.gov/eur/Bucharest
TAUBMAN