OPINION Anger vs. rational thinking. Two perspectives on President Klaus Iohannis decision to quickly accept the PSD proposal for prime minister

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis’ decision on Wednesday to quickly announce that he accepted the PSD proposal for prime minister, MEP Viorica Dancila, just one hour after the conclusion of the consultations with the parties, raised an unprecedented wave of public indignation. Rightly, in the absence of more detailed arguments and explanations, the feeling of abandon without fighting has revolted even the most infamous supporters of the president. Once the wave of emotion slowed down, we can go through both perspectives with calm. There are a number of arguments from the president. Few have seen or accepted them. So what are the two perspectives?

Arguments against the president’s decision

• Viorica Dancila is an unacceptable proposal and President Klaus Iohannis had to exercise his powers, play and do everything in his power to avoid installing a prime minister recommended by nothing besides the obedience to Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the governing PSD party.
• Even if he did not have space in the Parliament to play, he had to reject her  and ask the PSD to come with another candidate, as he did in the case of Sevil Shhaideh a year ago. At least he can do so to demonstrate to the public that he really has remained the last institutional retreat in the face of an abusive power.
• It is unclear why Klaus Iohannis avoided even mimicking the struggle, and if he accepted this proposal, he should have at least the decency to say that, although he can not challenge the right of the PSD to put a new premier, the Dancila variant is completely inappropriate. He had already announced that if Prime Minister Tudose fails, he will think twice if he still gives the PSD government.
• According to the Constitution, the president choses the prime minister and it does not write anywhere that he has to designate a name from the party that holds the majority, so he can ask another party if the profile of the future prime minister raises major questions.
• From a tactical point of view, the president was wrong because he rushed to accept the PSD proposal instead of waiting until after the big protest announced on Jan. 20. The decision massively demobilized the public. People feel abandoned .on their own, and demoted to defend the democracy and the rule of law in the street.
• Some have accused Klaus Iohannis of topping with Liviu Dragnea. Their argument is that the president wants a second term at any price and that the current situation suits him. An incompetent Prime Minister led by Liviu Dragnea assures re-election at Cotroceni, but what we are going to use at the moment is a decorative, with lack of courage president.
• The biggest risk at this point is that the street will turn, including against President Iohannis, because he betrayed the public interest. Movements # Coruption Kills and #Rezist have already condemned the president’s gesture. Several defenders of justice went on Wednesday night in protest at Cotroceni.
• Another dangerous effect is the demotivation of some key institutions, who no longer see the president after Wednesday’s decision as a guarantor of defending their independence. Here we are talking of prosecutors, judges, secret services or any other institution meant to keep the balance in the state.
• Kicking out so easily in the fight, Klaus Iohannis strengthened his image as a poor, comfortable, visionary president, preoccupied exclusively with the comfort of the presidential function. Under these circumstances, the chances of getting the second mandate are diminishing.

Arguments in favor of the president’s decision

• The strongest argument is precisely the one invoked by President Iohannis: parliamentary arithmetic. PSD puts forward a list of signatures in support of Viorica Dancila, thus proving through an official document that it has a parliamentary majority. Under these circumstances, the president had no way to propose a candidate outside the majority without being accused of violating the fundamental law.
• The smallest gesture of opposition from the president would have been charged as an abuse of power, a serious violation of the Constitution. PSD and ALDE would have finally had reasons to suspend him in Parliament. All of the HotNews.ro information indicates that there is a well-thought-out plan in terms of steps and deadlines, as in 2012.
• Once the suspension plan was in motion, nothing could stop the disaster. Calin Popescu Tariceanu reached for one month in Cotroceni. In the meantime, he could massively destroy: dismissal of chief prosecutors, service chiefs, promulgating the laws of justice and any other legislative horrors that reached his table. It does not matter if President Iohannis remained in office after a referendum.
• Consequently, President Klaus Iohannis had to remove, above all, the real and serious danger of suspension in Parliament, where a purely political decision would have been made. He would not have gotten anything if he pleased the audience with a warlike attitude, but instead would have offered his opponents to move on to the suspension plan. Shortly, he  would of risked losing everything for the sake of a minute of glory in front of the TV cameras.
• For this reason, he did not refer at Mrs. Dancila’s CV, which legally is not a reason for rejection. We are not in the situation of Shhaideh, where state reasons have intervened, even today officially clarified or assumed.
• If he denied Viorica Dancila on the grounds of incompetence, it was very likely that Liviu Dragnea proposed Carmen Dan, as the second proposal. Total humiliation for the president. Klaus Iohannis did not really have any gaming space but was backed to the wall and any resistance test could have cost him his job.
• It is very likely that these are the reasons why the opposition, besides PMP, has not advanced a premier name in order not to put even more pressure on the head of state by raising a false horizon of waiting among the public.
• Except for the sideslip  when he criticized the National Agency for Fiscal Administration in the case of Antena 3, there are no hints that Klaus Iohannis in his entire career as president of acting on the side of the corrupt, why would he have shacked hands with Dragnea now? It is hard to believe that the president was unaware that accepting Dancila is shedding  on the long-term his image. Who accepts this kind of thing willingly if he has options?
• The triggering of early elections is a utopia. It was best explained by former President Traian Basescu at Cotroceni: the parliamentarians will never accept to give up their own mandate in the first year after the elections. They invested money and nobody is risking in losing their place.

Conclusion. The president was in an impossible situation, generated by the sudden surrender of Prime Minister Mihai Tudose. The situation turned overnight, unpredictably, in favor of Dragnea, after all the data seemed to lead to the removal of the PSD leader from office and the Chamber of Deputies. It’s unclear what Prime Minister Tudose has done to lose a match almost won, here are more possible explanations.

The game has not ended. It may be that the president, backed by the wall, had the priority to remove the danger of suspension in Parliament. Even the speed of the decision shows us that. There are ten days until Viorica Dancila takes the oath, time in which many things can happen, including checking Dragnea’s majority in Parliament.

If she becomes prime minister, then we can only say that President Iohannis has done too little in a situation when more judgment was required. Until then, it is important for the street to be aware of the grave danger in which we find our complicated situation of President Iohannis, which can not be judged without clearly looking at both perspectives. Both anger and urge to reason are perfectly justified.

One thing is certain: Moving Klaus Iohannis to guilty at this time serves the interests of the Dragnea group.