REPORT. A PSD meeting, dedicated to EU issues, turned into a contest of attacks in Bolojan: “Timeless Premier who victimizes himself” / “The bird in the sling”
About 700 PSD members and sympathizers gathered in an event hall in Pipera on Saturday for an event organized by the activists of the Party of European Socialists (PES). Several figures from the top of the party took the stage.
The event was billed as one on “the future long-term European budget and the debate on multi-speed Europe”. In reality, internal political disputes were still on the agenda, and in his absence, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan was the star of the speeches of the PSD leaders who spoke on stage.
“It's like in a football team, you change the coach”
The first on stage was MEP Victor Negrescu, the coordinator of PES activists in Romania, who did not hesitate to allude to the prime minister in his speech.
“Do you want a different government formula that still remains pro-European,” he asked. “Yes,” answered the hall in unison.
At a time when the PSD attacks on multiple fronts the Government of which it is a part and the prime minister from the PNL, Negrescu continued the rhetoric from the stage in Pipera.
“After 8 months of government, things are not going in the right direction. And if the country is not going well, you have to change something. It's like in a football team, you change the coach. You don't sling reforms at the population without talking to the people,” said Negrescu, who is one of the five PSD first vice-presidents.
“You put the bird in the sling and let it go as far as you can”
The baton was taken over by Gheorghe Șoldan, vice-president of PSD and president of CJ Suceava. He took the “slingshot” metaphor and put it on the scene of a popular video game – Angry Birds.
“Victor, I heard you talking about Angry Birds. I, because I'm so young, I remember that in that game you put the bird in a sling and let it go as far as possible in the world, to go. We call things by their names,” said Soldan.
Not even Florin Manole, the PSD Minister of Labor in the Government led by Ilie Bolojan, remained in debt. “Ideology makes some people have no empathy and sensitivity for 35,000 single-parent families who have incomes below 399 lei per month, on average.”
“What is this silence”
The attitude of the participants while the PSD leaders were giving their speeches, as well as their general attitude towards the prime minister, was charged by Manole. “We are a bit quiet. What is in this hall? The Romanian Athenaeum? What is this silence in this hall and in general?”, the minister asked them
Grindeanu: “We have no obligation towards a prime minister who victimizes himself and demands blind trust”
When it was his turn on stage, the PSD president, Sorin Grindeanu noted the shift of attention from EU topics such as European funds, but continued the rant against the prime minister.
“This meeting takes place in a political context in which a common-sense statement generated disproportionate reactions. I said that the PSD will make a serious analysis of the participation in the government. It is not a gesture of revolt. It is a gesture of responsibility towards the act of governance. It is exactly what all the mature social democratic parties in Europe do. No serious party remains in the government out of inertia,” Grindeanu explained.
He said that the evaluation of governance is mandatory, but not the governance of “a single man, but of Romania”.
“We have no obligation to a temporary prime minister who we see is victimizing himself and asking for blind trust. We don't operate like that,” Grindeanu also declared, at which point the people in the hall applauded him, and some shouted “bravo”.
Sorin Grindeanu then turned his attention to the USR saying that people must see the difference “between those who assume government and those who have built an image on hypocrisy”.
Asked after the speech, by the HotNews reporter, if the reaction of the people in the room will weigh in the party's decision on whether or not to stay in government, Grindeanu said that “we will do this consultation with all colleagues and from the County Political Committees. That means almost 5,000 people who will vote”.
That consultation is planned by the PSD to take place after the coalition debate on the 2026 budget ends. It is presented as “a slightly more extensive consultation” to determine whether they want to remain in government in the current configuration “or in a more limited form, without USR, for example, and if we go ahead with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan”.
