Tensions in the PNL: the vice-president of the Chamber of Deputies, the liberal Adrian Cozma, attacks the anti-PSD camp and demands to remain in power
Adrian Cozma, the president of PNL Satu Mare and vice president of the Chamber of Deputies, launches a harsh message to some liberal leaders who demand demarcation from the PSD, reminding them that they were elected on joint lists with the social democrats. He argues that the PNL should remain in government, possibly in a “minority government with other pro-European parties”and demands a decision made at the level of the entire party.
Cozma demands that the PNL remain in government, in a minority executive. PHOTO FB Adrian Cozma
“Dear Dan Motreanu, dear Siegfried, Ghiță Falcă, you were elected on a joint list with PNL and PSD. Dear Ciprian Ciucu, I don't have any picture with PSD behind me, nor with the president of PSD next to me, I didn't have this chance in Satu Mare to get an agreement from PSD to get rid of the county from UDMR, because I didn't have an agreement with PSD and I always fought with PSD. It's not normal for some to come and tell us: “we are the fiercest anti-PSEDists”, but YOU WERE ELECTED on PSD lists”, he passed it on to his colleagues.
“You came and told us that we have to govern with the PSD”
Adrian Cozma reproaches his colleagues for the changes in position towards the PSD, recalling the discussions in 2024:
“Dan, in 2024, when you came and proposed a joint list with the PSD, you told me that you didn't understand that it was our chance and I was disciplined and voted. After the 2024 European Parliament elections, you told us: it's over with the PSD, we're for life and death. That's how it was until December 2024, when, after I knew the whole reality, you came and told us that we have to govern with the PSD, that we, with 14%, cannot afford anything other than a PSD government“.
“You didn't see me submitting my candidacy with Tudose, with Stănescu, with all these people from PSD”
The president of PNL Satu Mare points out that he did not publicly associate with PSD leaders:
“You didn't see me submitting my candidacy with Tudose, with Stănescu, with all these people from the PSD.”
In the context of discussions about leaving the government, Adrian Cozma claims that the PNL should remain in power and try the formula of a minority executive:
“Now you want us to go into the opposition. I believe that the PNL would have the capacity and could be in a minority government with other pro-European parties and carry forward the reforms, so that in the fall we can also reap the fruits of the reformsr”.
Adrian Cozma invokes the precedent from 2012, when, he says, PSD would have politically capitalized on the austerity measures taken previously:
“In 2012, I remind you that the Ponta government came and started to give back those savings that the Boc government made and that is why the results of our effort I would not want to be others that will come”says the president of PNL Satu Mare.
“We must stay in government to achieve our goals”
The Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies demands that the decision regarding the positioning of the PNL be taken at a broad level, not only in the restricted leadership forums:
“This is a decision that must be taken with all PNL members, it must be taken in a National Council with all our colleagues. But we must stay in government to fulfill our goals. And don't forget, just as PSD responds to the political crisis, there must also be a responsibility of those from PNL who brought us on this path with PSD and through a much more in-depth analysis“.
Cozma's message comes after the censure motion against the Bolojan Government, initiated by AUR and PSD, passed following the vote in Parliament.
The motion was voted on Tuesday by 281 parliamentarians (with the largest number of votes in the history of the Romanian Parliament). 233 votes were needed to be adopted.
The National Liberal Party (PNL) met on Tuesday, from 17:00, in an extended meeting of the National Political Bureau, after the adoption of the censure motion that led to the dismissal of the Government led by Ilie Bolojan.
