In the political history of Romania, President Iohannis represents a decade. Like his predecessor Traian Besescu, Iohannis manages to complete a decade of presidency. Beyond the pomp, beyond the receptions, beyond the trips, which are often held in lavish decor, the balance of his mandates will be written under the sign of clarity. His years are the years when hope gradually gave way to doom: twice elected against the PSD, Iohannis is a president who has appointed most of the prime ministers from the ranks of the PSD.

President Iohannis outlived Viktor Ponta, Livija Dragnia, Viorika Denčile, Ludovic Orbán and Florin Kitsa. But his political survival is often accompanied by inconsistency and the temptation of arrogance. The revival of the PSD and the rise of the AUR are perhaps the most important parts of his political legacy.

President and parties

President Iohannis maintained a relationship with his party, the PNL, based on the prestige and dominance of the position he holds. To a greater extent than Traian Basescu, the one who ultimately failed by agreeing to create PMP dissidence, Klaus Iohannis managed to impose not only his strategic choices but also his own leadership options on the PNL.

Because the PNL gradually ceased its autonomous existence, being absorbed by the president of the republic. The succession of leaders and prime ministers constantly fueled this ambition of the head of state. Presidential hegemony offered the PNL a poisoned gift and trained it in the direction of a Faustian pact: retaining power in exchange for giving up any semblance of independence. So, the current impasse that can no longer be ignored: Nikolae Chuke does not exist outside of Klaus Iohannis. The president’s dominance of the liberals jeopardizes any possibility of a rethink in the coming election year.

The presidential hegemony directed the PNL also on the path of a grand alliance with the PSD. The desire for stability can also be perceived as an alibi for the head of state’s desire for personal comfort. Klaus Iohannis wanted to avoid the scenario of removal from office: the coalition with the PSD, also motivated by the tragic context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, guaranteed peace until the end of the mandate.

However, the rotation of prime ministers is a gesture that could have dramatic consequences in the short and medium term. Prime Minister Marcel Cholaku will no longer have the same type of subordination as Prime Minister Chuke. The deal with the PSD involves significant risks, as the PSD has a long tradition of duplicity toward its opportunistic allies. Klaus Iohannis retains his position, but no longer holds the effective levers of political control. The PSD triumphs again, and the president of the republic gives another chance to the social democrats.

President and state reform

The paradox makes the dramatic strike in education spectacularly reveal the failure of the most important reform project sponsored by the president, “Educated Romania.” Official pomp contrasts with social discontent. The education law is being announced against this backdrop of conflict: the president’s irritation comes from contemplating this image of a major political failure.

“Educated Romania” sums up the inconsistency and hesitation of the decade of Klaus Iohannis. In education, as in justice or constitutional reorganization, the President seemed unable to fully fulfill the mandate of hope and trust. Glaciation, involution and marasmus have taken the place of the initial fates.

Several times President Iohannis was ready to listen to the voice of those who voted for him: the “Colectiv” tragedy, the demonstrations against GEO 13, the referendum that led to the conviction of Liviu Dragea – these are the moments when true solidarity was built between the voters and the head of state. But this solidarity was fatally undermined by the head of state’s inconsistency. The current separation of the president from the voters is the latest episode of a complicated history. Instead of a democratic conversation with the people he represents, the President often chose absence and silence.

For Romanians, the presidential decade of Klaus Iohannis meant not only the triumph of political immobility, but also parting with illusions. The illusion of eradicating corruption through the intervention of providential judges is abandoned: the governance of the nation is not entrusted to prosecutors and judges, but to those who are democratically elected. The post-2017 disappointment is a lesson for Romanians to avoid investing in other bailout utopias. Read the rest on Contributors.ro