INTERVIEW “I see that Nicuşor Dan is also pro-PSD. I don't understand why they don't make a big PSD, which they call a “single party””

Writer and political scientist, Stelian Tănase has always been one of the most respected voices in the National Liberal Party. And he always firmly stated his opinions, even if they were disturbing.

• “The disease of power is contagious, it's contagious,” says the politician, when asked if there is any similarity between Klaus Iohannis and Nicuşor Dan.
• “USR and PNL have no way to grow other than in an active opposition, it's textbook”, says Stelian Tănase.
• As for the fight now, he believes it will be an extremely tense one. And unpredictable.
• “Remember Tariceanu's option. He stayed in government. So what?”

On Sunday, Nicușor Dan appointed Adrian Veștea, president of the CJ Brașov and first vice-president of the PNL, for the position of prime minister, after Eugen Tomac submitted his mandate.

Three weeks before, at a debate organized by the PNL on the occasion of the 151st anniversary of the founding of the party, Stelian Tănase had told the liberals that they allowed themselves to be “enslaved” by Klaus Iohannis, that they had become “a presidential party, but a second-rate one” and that they went to Cotroceni for “a job, a ministry”.

In an interview for the HotNews audience, Stelian Tănase sees his criticism confirmed faster than he thought.

“For now we don't know who will win”

HotNews: Mr. Stelian Tănase, you criticized them recently the liberals because they became “a presidential party, but a second-rate one” and you noted that they allowed themselves to be enslaved by the former president Klaus Iohannis in order to receive positions. Did they notice what you said?
Stelian Tanase: Obviously not. And now there is a battle in the party for his control. There will be two wings, Vestea and Bolojan, which will try to control the PNL. And we will have to witness these battles.

For now we don't know who will win. We can make a first impression when they organize the National Political Bureau (BPN) and we will see the weight of each wing at the vote. And we will be able to make further assessments when Vestea submits the list to the new government, so that we can understand which ministers it will stop at, so who are its trusted people.

– And how strong is, from your point of view, the Vestea wing?
– I am also curious to see them vote, to count them. At one of the last BPN meetings, after the motion, when the switch to the opposition was put to the vote, Bolojan had a crushing majority. But things can change. Now, Thuma is the one with the “grit”, with initiative, he is the theoretician of this pro-PSD group.

I see that Nicusor Dan is also pro-PSD. I don't understand why they don't make a big PSD, which they call a “unified party”. Why are we messing with elections, with campaigns? It's a disappointment to me what's happening now.

– Some liberals close to the Bolojan team are already asking that The news to be excluded from the PNL.
– I think that here too there will be a dispute between moderates and radicals. That is, some will be more radical and ask for the exclusion, while others will be moderate and ask for other sanctions or, please, his suspension for a while. All these currents and trends will be seen at the BPN meeting.

“Loyalty to someone means betraying someone else”

– “Conspiracy, treason, interference”, said Ciprian Ciucudeclared supporter of Ilie Bolojan, arguing that the party was not announced. Could the appointment of Adrian Veştea be an interference by the president in party politics or treason?
– I think that loyalty to someone means betraying someone else. The issue of betrayal appears at a time that is more about fair play.

Nicusor Dan, if he wanted to appoint a prime minister from the PNL or from any other party, he should have consulted with the leadership of that party. However, the president called Vestea and appointed him, without asking the current leadership of the party. This gives the note of betrayal and, above all, of hostility towards the PNL.

If they had had these discussions, consultations, the designation would have been as constitutional and correct as possible. Only he didn't. He avoided the moment of any negotiation, he did not respect the usual steps in such situations. Maybe he doesn't know them, that he's a beginner at this level…

“It's a people problem here”

– Others say about the president that he is a great strategist, that he calculates his moves…
– He is not a great strategist! He may be a good mathematician, but he is not a politician. That's obvious.

– Through this proposal, does the president demonstrate that he favors the anti-reform party?
– No. It's a people problem here. He has a fix with Bolojan after they didn't get along at some points. Especially after Ilie Bolojan said that he does not vote for the Tomac government – it is clear that then he even made an enemy of President Dan.

Nicusor Dan's big problem is that he perceives Ilie Bolojan as an opponent in the next presidential elections.

On the right wing, Bolojan can gather many votes, even more than Nicuşor Dan, who has already depreciated and is at a quarter of his popularity half a year ago.

So he sees Ilie Bolojan as a rival, he cannot read him otherwise. That's why they couldn't collaborate with him, they couldn't team up. Because he only sees the moment of 2029, of the presidential elections, when he expects to have Ilie Bolojan as his counter-candidate.

His policy of “whatever we share, whomever we fool”

– Well, even the president criticized the politicians on Friday who “do nothing but calculate the 2028 elections. Romanians care little about our electoral debates, Romanians want governance”.
-Actually, in our country, the parties sin because they only have the perspective of the current day: what are we stealing, what are we dividing, who are we fooling. It would be good to have a mid- and long-term strategy as well specified as possible.

Let them think about what they will do in 2028, for example, because that would give them a more applied political thinking, with calendars and targets.

So Nicusor Dan is not right in that reproach. The parties should be encouraged to think in the medium and long term.

– Do you think there is any similarity between the former president Klaus Iohannis and the president Nicusor Dan?
– Know that the disease of power is contagious, it is contagious. You can do it as soon as you get into office, if you haven't had it since childhood.

And when you play hide-and-seek as a child, he is still the one who organizes the games, who gives orders, who knows everything. Or he's the one who organizes the tea dance. You know that boy will be a political leader. He has a sense of power.

I voted for the president Nicusor Dan. But we have to admit that his votes were not won by him, because they were anti-George Simion votes. He didn't understand that and it kind of went to his head.

I heard him attribute, in a recent statement, the role of having attracted 6 million votes, that is, of sympathizers. It's fake! The world voted against Simion, because it understood the danger of an authoritarian government – fascist, Putinist, legionnaire, whatever you want to call it. It would have been a disaster.

PNL now has “the most popular leader”

– What effect does the appointment of the president have on the popularity of Ilie Bolojan?
– I think we have to see first who will keep the party. Bolojan will have one part of the party, and Veştea – another part. The second being, however, in a favorable position, where he can buy people more easily: as prime minister, he could reward those loyal to him either with money or with positions. But Bolojan can “buy” them through his prestige.

At this moment, Ilie Bolojan is experiencing a serious increase in popularity. Since the censure motion, he is by far the most popular politician – this is shown by polls from several houses, not only from affiliated ones.

Or, if you are in a party, you want your leader to be the most popular leader, the best placed in the polls. I want to see how BPN members will look at these advantages, how they will weigh them.

Why does he think that USR and PNL should remain in opposition

– Until now, USR and PNL had similar positions. What should he do next?
– The fates will be played in the vote in the Parliament, where PSD and AUR have the largest share. AUR says it doesn't work because this government – they play like that because they want to be anti-system and capitalize on all the grievances until 2028.

Therefore, the idea of ​​USR standing with PNL in opposition is to cut like mayonnaise this monopoly of the dissatisfied, which AUR now has by gathering votes without doing anything.

Why? Because other disaffected people, with more modern, more European visions, would migrate to the right-wing opposition, made up of more democratic, more European parties. USR and PNL have no way to grow other than in an active opposition, it's textbook.

The PNL has proven so far that it has a habit of betraying, changing the line, making irrevocable agreements. I guess you remember the famous politicians Tariceanu and Vosganian, who carried Dragnea's bag…

There were also other situations in which the PNL changed the calimera: you remember the moment when Tăriceanu, remaining in the minority in the government, allied himself with the PSD instead of going to the opposition. Should he stay in government so what?, because the electorate slammed him in the next elections, which PSD won.

“As long as he is close to the PSD, Nicusor Dan will not be suspended”

– How will Nicușor Dan explain to his supporters that instead of appointing a PSD prime minister, he preferred to enter into a frontal conflict with Bolojan and USR?
– He is in an agreement with the PSD, with whom he collaborated on the landing of Bolojan, on the censure motion. Now, he manages the PSD, hoping for a future collaboration, based on the argument that it is the party with the most seats in Parliament. Political instinct probably makes him rely on those who have the largest army.

That's why I think that Nicusor Dan had no intention of making Eugen Tomac prime minister. He was a rabbit, as they say in election campaigns, when you send a candidate forward to “kill” him in time. Tomac was not the real candidate, running to take the beautiful girl.

Now, Nicusor Dan has an interest in PSD returning his service. And the PSD has an interest in staying hidden, so as not to pay for the mistakes it made in two monumental crises: the economic-financial crisis of Ciolacu and the political crisis of Grindeanu. PSD is a party of crises, and Nicusor Dan has an interest in managing his partner, in order to protect him in the perspective of the upcoming election campaigns.

I think that Nicuşor Dan has only one chance to become president: to have a completely unvotable counter-candidate, as was the case in the competition between Ion Iliescu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor.

– But don't you think that a possible suspension is closer?
– As long as he is close to the PSD, Nicusor Dan will not be suspended. That's the rationale for joining them.