At the beginning of the year, PSD attacks on the PNL became more frequent, and PNL leaders are receiving image blows without retaliation. The PNL appears to be a drifting, unresponsive party after general secretary Lucian Bode, accused of plagiarism, “disappeared” from public life, and party president Nicolae Chouquet attends public events side-by-side with Marcel Cholaku and speaks with him polite speeches.

The PSD has had a strong start to the year and is aggressively attacking the Liberals on all fronts in an attempt to score political points before the government bypass. In the first days of January, PSD President Marcel Čolaku and PSD General Secretary Paul Stenescu spoke publicly about the reshuffle in the government, which will take place in May, and about the need to keep the current ministers. on their portfolios.

• Marcel Cholaku: “If we find a better formula within the coalition, we will come up with it. If not, we follow the protocol (…) In my opinion, it is a mistake to change Bolosh (Minister of European Funds Marcel Bolosh) now (…) There is also a performance in the Ministry of Justice, we eliminated MCV (…) Grindean’s performance in transport cannot be challenged even by its greatest enemy.” (Romanian TV)
• Paul Stenescu: “Back to the present, the discussions about keeping or re-discussing the leadership of the ministries in the framework of management rotation should happen for a very simple reason: we want to manage effectively. In this sense, there is also a principle in sports: do not change the players who perform. We do not need the episodes of political chaos that existed before the SDP came to power. (News.ro)

Meanwhile, in the context of the interior minister Lucian Bode’s plagiarism verdict and the Jilț mine accident, second-echelon PSD leaders renewed their attacks on the PNL and demanded the Liberal’s resignation. ministers

PSD MP from Giurgiu Marian Mina ridiculed the PNL in a Facebook post: “liberals started throwing handkerchiefs in anger over the rotation”: “You don’t want to tell us who you are to do with Bode the plagiarist, with Preda “unofficial sources” and with Popescu, combiner with Energy?!”.

PSD entered the electoral logic

“We speak on behalf of our own electorate, we exert public pressure by attacking the PNL for the items in the image section. Against the background of the failure of Schengen, the PSD lost interest, as did the PNL. The messages that are in place are to restore electoral interest because we will enter government and that is eroding. We must make the liberals understand that the negotiations on the ring road portfolios do not depend on them, but on the two presidents PSD and PNL, respectively, to whom Iohannis has entrusted stability,” social democratic sources explained to HotNews.ro.

In addition, all actions of the PSD president indicate that he is building his authority as prime minister and implementing his strategy of keeping important portfolios in the government. Cholaku, according to the sources cited, is ensuring his goal is achieved by retaining key ministries to retain both control of the government and the reins of his party.

In this sense, Cholaku has been calculating his moves since the end of last year, when he enlisted the support of Nicolae Chuke to negotiate positions in ministries during the government round in May. The PSD president wants transport to remain in the PSD and Sorin Grindeanu to continue running the ministry.

Outside the ring road of government, the PSD has made winning the presidential election a priority, but it still does not have a suitable candidate for 2024. By keeping Sorin Grindeana in transport and promoting Gabriela Firea as a candidate for mayor of Bucharest, Çolaku secures himself the seat of PSD president for the time being.

However, the PSD aims to win the presidential elections in 2024 and will not cling to an alliance with the PNL.

“The liberals have a choice whether to stay in the logic of continuing the government together with the PSD. We will honor our commitment and will not leave the government no matter what happens until 2024,” sources told HotNews.ro.

Ciolacu-Ciucă barter made in South Korea

Sources inside PSD and PNL confirmed to HotNews.ro that the two leaders, Cholaku and Chuke, agreed during their visit to South Korea late last year to divide the government portfolios without consulting their parties.

Thus, Cholaku would claim to keep the Ministry of Transport and Finance. In return, the PNL will receive the support of the PSD to take over the Ministry of Regional Development from the UDMR (managing the PNRR and Angel Saligna projects) and will be left with Justice for Land and the European Funds for Marcel Bolosh.

According to the cited sources, the proposal would have been accepted by Nicolae Chuke and forwarded to the Cotrocen Palace.

Chuke remains president of the PNL as long as the alliance with the PSD is in place

Nicolae Chuke’s barter with Marcel Čolaku on the government ring road ensures the PNL leader retains his partnership with the PSD, as well as the seat of the Liberals’ president.

We remind you that a year ago, when the PNL merged with the PSD, the agreement stipulated that the two parties would remain governing partners after 2024, and the Liberals and Social Democrats would share the head of government and the presidency.

PNL leaders are annoyed that Chuke is negotiating with the PSD without consulting them

The understanding between the two party presidents does not sit well with liberal leaders, who say the pressure the PSD is putting on the PNL to get the ministries it wants “could backfire.” Some of the PNL leaders admit that a state of nervousness has been created in the party due to Nicolae Chuke’s lack of information regarding portfolio negotiations.

“Everyone is in the dark, because the discussion was conducted in pairs, even the first vice-presidents did not participate. Everyone understood that Cholaku wanted to settle accounts with Grindyanu by our hand, that he wanted to leave him to Neaku, to be the general secretariat, so that he would have someone to manage the Government and he could continue to engage in politics. He could be a surprise if he pressures us to agree to his exchange with Chuke, as was the case with the pensions,” said the PNL vice-president.

Another Liberal leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, says the territory’s leaders are awaiting an explanation from President Nicolae Chuke at the next Politburo meeting.

“The party will not agree to any negotiations between the ministries, as is clear from the agreement made by Chuke with Cholak. PSD already treats us as a pivot party, they want us to be their satellites. We cannot accept this agreement, because it would mean that we would completely capitulate to them and be parrots, to put it in the people’s words,” protested the liberal.

On a public level, first vice-presidents Dan Motreanu and Rares Bohdan stated that the PNL rejected the proposals of the Social Democrats. According to Raresh Bohdan, the rotation will take place “on the basis of the formula that was provided in the signed protocol, it will be followed to the last comma,” says Bohdan.

Another first vice-president, Dan Motreanu, attacks Marcel Čolaka, accusing him of fending off PSD attacks on PNL ministers. “It is quite difficult to have a good cooperation with the PSD in all districts, even if we can find a common denominator for many things that divide us, as long as the PSD President Marcel Čolaku encourages some of his representatives in the territory to attack PNL Ministers and representatives of the local PNL administration,” said first vice president of the PNL.

The Liberals will meet on Monday for the first National Bureau meeting of 2023 and discuss strategy for the coming months.