SENATE PRESIDENT GEOANA RESIGNS FROM NATIONAL DEFENSE

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SUBJECT: SENATE PRESIDENT GEOANA RESIGNS FROM NATIONAL DEFENSE
COUNCIL


1. (SBU) Mircea Geoana, the president of the Social-Democratic Party
(PSD) and President of the Senate, announced on June 7 (the day of
the European Parliamentary elections) he was resigning his position
as vice-chair of the National Defense Council (CSAT). In explaining
his decision, Geoana accused President Basescu of "abusing the
symbol of the military, the sacrifice and devotion of Romanian
soldiers for electoral purposes" in connection with Basescu's visits
to Romanian troops in Iraq and Afghanistan on June 4 and 6,
respectively. The visits came just before the official closing of
the electoral campaign and one day before the vote. Geoana
characterized the visits as evidence of politicizing the military.
Furthermore, Geoana criticized the President for unilaterally
announcing the withdrawal of Romanian troops from Iraq without
(Geoana alleged) properly informing the CSAT and the Parliament. In
an open letter to the President, Geoana postured that this behavior
was not compatible with a democratic state, and by stepping down
from the CSAT, he grandly claimed to be emphatically turning his
back on "domestic and international actions by which President
Basescu brings political benefits to his party."

BASESCU WELCOMES GEOANA'S DECISION


2. (SBU) President Basescu staged a special press conference on June
9 to respond to Geoana's accusations. He welcomed Geoana's decision
to give up his CSAT membership, contrasting it with Geoana's
insistence six months ago to have the law changed to allow the
Senate President to be a CSAT member. Basescu also recalled
previous Geoana positions, including his opposition to the
recently-concluded IMF deal and his 2006 call for a precipitous
pullout of Romanian troops from Iraq. Basescu reminded Geoana that
he participated in the parliamentary decision to extend the presence
of the troops in Iraq last December and the subsequent CSAT decision
in January. Basescu underscored that the Memorandum between Romania
and Iraq clearly provided that Romanian troops would leave Iraq
before July 31, 2009 and that the Memorandum was adopted by the full
Parliament on May 12, 2009. Basescu explained that the day of his
visit to Iraq (June 4) had been decided long before by the generals
of the Multi National Force and had no relationship to the electoral
campaign. At the same time, Basescu invoked a tradition of combined
visits to the two operations theaters where Romanian troops are
active, and noted it would have been "impolite" not to travel to
Afghanistan as well. President Basescu then expressed his pleasure
that the complex mission that started in 2003 was successfully
completed six years later and that Romania resisted previous
internal pressures to pull out from Iraq earlier.

PRESIDENTIAL POSTURING FOR MR. GEOANA


3. (SBU) During the formation of the new government in December
2008, Geoana wanted to shadow Basescu and to have an increased role
in foreign affairs and national security issues. Given his clear
ambitions to become president himself, Geoana refused to assume any
governmental portfolio in the new PSD-PDL coalition. Instead he
chose to become the constitutional "number two" in the Romanian
state, i.e. President of the Senate, who is next in line to replace
the incumbent President if the latter is unable to fulfill his
duties. The office provides a good platform for a presidential
candidate.


4. (SBU) Geoana coveted some presidential prerogatives right away.
During the negotiations for a new governing coalition, he
successfully convinced his coalition partners from the PDL to
support allowing the Senate President to become the second
vice-chair of CSAT. (Note: The President of Romania is the CSAT
chair and the Prime Minister is its vice-chair). Therefore, one of
the first decisions of the PDL-PSD government was to amend the CSAT
law to make this membership change through an "Emergency Ordinance"
(EO 224 of December 30, 2008).


5. (SBU) Because EOs enter into force immediately, Geoana could in
his new capacity attend the four CSAT meetings scheduled in the
first part of 2009. At the same time, the EO was sent to the
Parliament where both chambers eventually endorsed it on May 4.
However, final approval and signing of EO 224 into law by the
President is pending a decision of the Constitutional Court, which
is weighing a challenge from a group of opposition National Liberal
Party (PNL) legislators to the measure's constitutionality. The
main argument of the PNL legislators is that the EO and the law
adopting it breach the principle of the separation of powers, since
the CSAT is part of the Executive Branch, which only reports to the
Parliament on a yearly basis. The Parliament should not, in their
view, have a representative on the National Defense Council.


6. (SBU) Comment: The presidential election campaign will only pick
up momentum from here. Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court is
expected in the coming days to rule on the PNL's challenge to
Geoana's position in the CSAT. Insiders told PolOffs that the Court
seems likely to accept the PNL's argument that it is
unconstitutional. To be forced out by a court ruling would be a
serious blow for Geoana and would cast his earlier persistence in
getting on the CSAT in a bad light. It is therefore understandable
that Geoana, to save face, is pre-empting that scenario by inventing
a Basescu-related excuse for leaving the Council before the
Constitutional Court announces its decision. Geoana's credibility
is at stake, which explains his pretext and excellent timing
(Election Day) to announce his unilateral decision to give up his
CSAT membership. He may even hope that he can benefit politically
if he succeeds in linking his decision to the alleged mishandling of
the CSAT by President Basescu.


7. (SBU) Comment continued: At the same time, Geoana wants to
present himself as a serious challenger to President Basescu and as
a much more responsible would-be president. We have been told by
PSD contacts that Geoana was advised for his own electoral benefit
not to miss any opportunity to attack Basescu and to help his party
distance itself from Basescu's PDL (a tough act when the two parties
share the governing coalition). Over the last few months, Geoana
has not been shy in challenging Basescu on major strategic issues,
such as political reform, the IMF deal, and the relationships with
Russia and Moldova, as well as on procurement of multi-role fighter
planes and on the best timing for the pullout of troops from Iraq.
Knowing that many of these issues involve important equities for the
U.S., PSD contacts privately assure us that Geoana is not serious on
many of them (such as his comments against the procurement of a
replacement for Romania's aging MiG-21 fleet),but that this is all
just part of his pre-electoral campaign posturing. In relations
with the United States, as with internal coalition politics, it
would appear Geoana is trying to have it both ways. End comment.

GUTHRIE-CORN