PSD,S GEOANA ATTACKS FROM THE REAR, AS TWO PALACES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BUCHAREST 000086

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/NCE AARON JENSEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV RO
SUBJECT: PSD,S GEOANA ATTACKS FROM THE REAR, AS TWO PALACES
TRADE CHARGES

REF: BUCHAREST 0065

Classified By: DCM Mark A. Taplin for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: In one of the rockier political moments
since Prime Minister Tariceanu and President Basescu came to
power, the opposition parties under Social Democrat leader
Mircea Geoana, Conservative Party president Dan Voiculescu
and Greater Romania party head Vadim Tudor have initiated
moves to suspend the President and censor the government.
While their efforts are unlikely to come to full fruition,
they are not without political significance and potential
peril, particularly for President Basescu. The trigger for
the current scandal, following on the heels of Romania's
entry into the EU, is - once again - a heated exchange of
accusations of corruption and influence peddling between the
two palaces. Basescu remains far and away the country's most
popular politician, but signs are growing that the rest of
the political elite, ranging from the opposition, to the
Prime Minister's coterie of anti-Basescu Liberals, to even
status quo minded members of Basescu's own party, are
reaching for ways of reining in the unpredictable Romanian
president. End Summary.
.
A Cover Note Sparks Political Confrontation
.

2. (SBU) The escalating accusations and hostile atmosphere
between Prime Minister Tariceanu and President Basescu has
entered a new phase of vitriol, spilling over their
respective PNL and PD party lines following a scandal touched
off on January 13 by former Presidential chief-of-staff and
close confidant Elena Udrea. After she was accused in press
reports of having pocketed nearly $100,000 providing legal
representation for the state property fund -- without making
an appearance in court -- she struck back by revealing on
national TV that Prime Minister Tariceanu had sent a
"biletsel" or cover note to President Basescu in spring 2005,
asking the President to intervene on behalf of energy magnate
and Tariceanu ally Dinu Patriciu. The timing of her media
assault on the Prime Minister, on the eve of the PM's
reelection as Liberal Party president at an extraordinary
convention (reftel),could not have been purely coincidental.
Udrea, whose saucy persona has led to frequent speculation
about the nature of her relationship to President Basescu,
related to journalists Basescu's angry reaction to the note,
and the evidence of corruption and high-level lawlessness
that he said it represented.


3. (SBU) Perhaps unwisely, the Prime Minister went
immediately to the airwaves himself to insist the note was a
fabrication of Romanian secret services to divert attention
away from Urena,s own legal problems. Following
Tariceanu,s denial, Basescu produced the note, a cover slip
on a document about the Rompetrol case which suggested the
President raise the issue with prosecutors. Basescu cited
the note as evidence of what the President labeled an attempt
to create "a partnership among oligarchs." In conjunction
with earlier reports of efforts by the Prime Minister to
intervene on behalf of his political ally Dinu Patriciu,
including a "surprise" meeting the PM arranged between
himself, Patriciu and an unwilling Minister of Justice Monica
Macovei, the latest suggestion of an effort by the Prime
Minister to protect one of his closest backers was met with
loud denunciations and calls for Tariceanu's resignation.
Implicitly acknowledging the existence of the note, Tariceanu
insisted that it was merely an effort to inform the President
about possible illegal activities committed by "state
representatives." For his part, Patriciu said that
Tariceanu,s "initiative" was "personal, friendly and
normal," and that the document, along with the note revealed
alleged abuses in the investigation, which Patriciu had
himself brought to the attention of the Prime Minister, the
President and Parliament.
.
The Two Palaces Trade Salvos
.

4. (SBU) The Prime Minister and his allies were quick to
respond in kind. Conservative Party head Dan Voiculescu, a
bitter Basescu critic who left the government over the naming
of former Economy Minister Codrut Seres in an "economic
espionage" case involving Credit Suisse First Boston, claimed
the President had sent a similarly incriminating note to
Seres lobbying for a favorable outcome on a privatization
case. Others charged the President with improperly
influencing the Transportation Ministry in the awarding of a
contract to repair the Bucharest-Pitesti highway to a company
owned, in part, by Basescu advisor Udrea's husband. In just
one illustration of how sharp the exchanges between the two
palaces have become, the Presidential press office then
issued a communique on January 18, urging the Prime Minister

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to supply evidence in support of his accusations that the
President had attempted to "subordinate the government to the
interests of the oligarchy from Cotroceni (the Presidential
Palace). The communique concluded that if the Prime Minister
failed to produce any such evidence, the Presidency would
consider the accusations as baseless, and a clumsy attempt to
divert the public's attention away from Tariceanu's own
failings.
.
From Stage Left: Geoana and the Opposition Intervene.
.

5. (SBU) On the heels of the President,s communique,
opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Mircea Geoana
declared that the President and the Premier were equally
guilty in the scandal of "the note," and that both should
resign. Geoana argued that the dismissal of the Prime
Minister was desirable, but that the PSD would first begin
initiating procedures to suspend the President. Following an
extraordinary Social Demcrat leadership meeting on January
18, the party passed a motion to censor the government and to
initiate proceedings against Basescu. The extreme
nationalist Greater Romania Party (PRM),led by Vadim Tudor,
followed with a statement of support for the PSD's
initiative. Voiculescu's Conservative Party (PC) chose to
split the difference, condemning the President and defending
the Prime Minister. Voiculescu renewed his call for the
formation of a new government which would ally it with the
PSD and PNL.


6. (SBU) At a January 19 briefing for NATO and EU
embassies, and in a subsequent meeting with the Ambassador,
Geoana outlined his party's view on the political crisis and
the Social Democratic response. Geoana said the PSD's
two-track policy was first to begin impeachment procedures
against Basescu, then to force a vote of no-confidence on
Tariceanu so that a new government would be formed either
through his resignation or through decisions to replace the
government to be made by the interim president (who would,
not coincidentally, be Senate President and former
post-Communist Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu, a
Ceaucescu-era holdover and close friend of Vadim Tudor.)
Geoana claimed the PSD was only 10 signatures away from
initiating suspension proceedings against Basescu (that is
157 signatures or one-third of the combined Parliament of
which the PSD has 147 members). Following "consultation"
with the Constitutional Court (Article 95; section 2 of the
Constitution),the joint session of Parliament would need to
reach a simple majority to suspend President Basescu from
office. Following the proposal for suspension, a referendum
would be held within thirty days to remove the President from
office. Depending on the ruling from the Constitutional
Court (which Geoana considers "non-binding"),Geoana said a
motion to remove Prime Minister Tariceanu would be
introduced. Geoana admitted this was a high-risk strategy,
with a limited chance of success, but insisted "the PSD could
not in good conscience stand by and watch Tariceanu tear down
the government nor watch Basescu grab additional power,
strengthen his corrupt oligarchy, and become another Putin."
Geoana added that the PSD would move for an emergency session
of Parliament the following week to begin the formal process.


7. (SBU) In the wake of Geoana's sudden move, which caught
Basescu's Democrats and at least some Liberals by surprise,
the unbridled political war chants between the palaces began
to cool down, at least somewhat. Democrat Party President
and Cluj Mayor Emil Boc announced that the PD executive board
had concluded there were no strong reasons to leave the
Alliance at this time. PNL spokespersons likewise tried to
emphasize the Alliance's staying power, insisting that plans
were going ahead for the two parties to field a common list
for the May European Parliamentary elections as well as the
national and parliamentary elections scheduled for 2008.
Still, a sour taste lingered on, as suspicion grew in
Democratic ranks that the PSD impeachment effort had the
tacit support of the Prime Minister and his handlers. The
Prime Minister's own assurances of fealty to the coalition
were hardly convincing, as he suggested that while the
impeachment effort against Basescu was not justified "at
present," much depended on the President's conduct in the
future.


8. (C) Comment: The initial reaction to the Social
Democrat's move against Basescu, which at first was greeted
dismissively, shifted into a more nuanced outlook, especially
after people on the Bucharest political scene began to do the
arithmetic and sized up the degree of coordination behind the
scenes among the opposition Social Democrats and their
situational allies like Tudor and Voiculescu. Normally
reliable sources, like Liberal Democrat Mona Musca, take the
threat to the Romanian president, and to the country's

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political stability, seriously enough, and it was clear to us
in the Ambassador's January 25 meeting with Basescu (septel)
that he feels the same way. Odds are still that Geoana,s
gambit will lose steam, and it is entirely possible that he
will only accomplish one-quarter of what he is hoping. Yet
he hastens to add that that would be enough, and would serve
as a signal to the President that he cannot ride roughshod
over his political opponents and their considerable ambitions
and business interests.


9. (C) However strong the rhetoric, neither the PD nor the
PNL seem to have the stomach for early elections, a factor
that the Social Democrats may be counting on. The other
factor at play is an emerging gap between Basescu and the
leading figures in his own party -- key political players
like Boc, Bucharest Mayor Videanu, and Interior Minister
Vasile Blaga. To a man, they are reportedly unenthusiastic
about the type of confrontational politics that the President
relishes. One prominent young Liberal Democrat, who was
forced out of Tariceanu's Liberal party last year, commented
that all of Basescu's ministers recognize that their
political days are limited, and that they will probably not
have another shot at being minister if they leave prematurely
in early elections or another scenario. Both Musca and
several other sources close to President Basescu confirmed
that, increasingly, Basescu's Democrats were steering clear
of political strategy sessions with the President, and
focusing on compromise and damage control behind his back.
This, perhaps more than the latest political maneuvering of
Basescu's growing collection of archenemies, might have
negative consequences for his ability to shape political
developments on the ground and push forward his populist
message. End Comment.
TAUBMAN