Five days later, the failure of Schengen is still a taboo subject in PNL. Leaders stand in the corners, expressing their dissatisfaction and fearing that the party will once again settle with the electorate.

Sources at the top of the PNL told Hotnews.ro that immediately after the December 8 vote, a public opinion poll was conducted in the JAI board to see the heated reaction to Romania’s refusal to join the Schengen area. “We have conducted three operative surveys and all of them point to Johannis as the main person responsible. The problem is that the party will settle,” the cited sources explained.

How liberals explain the lack of political commitment

At the level of PNL leaders in the second and third echelons, there is dissatisfaction with how the image crisis caused by the failure of Romania’s accession to the Schengen area has been managed. However, at the party leadership forum, the disaffected did not express their opinion.

“The meeting was convened in video mode, and after the intervention of Alin Nitsy with a request for an analysis of the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Prime Minister closed the topic. He said that we should continue to focus our attention on Romania’s efforts in the European Council,” explained another PNL leader who participated in the December 9 meeting of the National Permanent Bureau.

According to PNL sources, there was no internal communication on the subject of the failure of Schengen. Both PNL President Nicolae Chuke and President Klaus Iohannis did not send any internal message.

Five days after Romania’s refusal to join the Schengen zone, when everything became clear about the failure, several liberals began to express their displeasure with the PNL leadership and Foreign Minister Bohdan Aurescu.

What do liberals say about those responsible for Romania’s failure to join the Schengen zone

On condition of anonymity, PNL leaders admit that the failure belongs to Klaus Iohannis and the people he appointed. Bohdan Aurescu, Nicolae Chuke and Lucian Bode are considered to be primarily responsible for the failure, as well as for how the communication of the situation was managed.

“Aurescu annoyed everyone with his arrogance. He did nothing but carry Johannis’ briefcase. Everyone, both us and the PSD, want him to go, but I don’t think that will happen, because it’s like Yohannis accepting defeat, and we all know he won’t do that,” he explained. PNL leader on condition of anonymity.

As for political speculation, disgruntled liberals are pointing the finger at the party’s central leadership led by Nicolae Chuke and Lucian Bode.

“The management’s duty was to deal with the problem in the conditions when we already had negative signals that Romania would not join the Schengen zone this year. Failure was already expected. How was it handled? The worst possible. Bode and Cuke went public and sold donuts, creating the illusion that Romania could. Management has demonstrated a lack of accountability and lack of ownership. This is the leadership of the party at the moment. Nothing will change, unfortunately,” commented another liberal.

The leadership of the PNL tried to minimize the failure recorded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior (both under the influence of President Klaus Iohannis) in the case of Romania’s accession to the Schengen area.

A day after the JAI vote against Romania’s accession, the National Permanent Bureau of the PNL was convened via video conference. Apart from the president of the Timiş County Council, Alin Nice, who asked for an explanation and analysis of the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, no other liberal spoke about the failure of Romania’s accession to the Schengen zone.

According to HotNews.ro sources, Prime Minister and President Nicolae Chuke told liberals in the BPN that he did not want to talk about Schengen and that Lucian Bode would hold a briefing on the matter at the end of the meeting. The prime minister also told them that now is not the time to find fault and that “concentration is needed” to continue the steps towards joining the Schengen zone.

The same sources claim that Lucian Bode briefly presented the situation to the Liberals and the message “we have been betrayed by the popular Europeans”.