PM Tariceanu: I received threats

Romanian PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu, facing open political conflict with President Traian Basescu these days, showed journalists during a visit to the city of Calarasi on Thursday a threatening message he received on his private phone.

The message, related to the change of the manager of the state institution, starts with “Dear Calin” and continues with threats that unless the PM revokes several decisions on RA-APPS, the state protocol authority, he would face risky revelations in the media.

On October 25, 2006, RAAPPS general manager Cristian Vlaicu, a member of the Democratic Party-PD, was dismissed and replaced with his deputy Adrian Dumitru, a member of the National Liberal Party-PNL. PD, brought to power by President Traian Basescu, and PNL, led by PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu, form the core of the governing coalition in Bucharest.

The coalition risks falling apart after Tariceanu and Basescu declared open war to each other in unprecedented mutual attacks on Thursday.

RAAPPS is a structure subordinated to the General Secretariat of the Government-SGG and has been the subject of a wave of revelations that it was used by various groups as a lucrative sink to suck state funds. The SGG argued Vlaicu’s dismissal with a series of real-estate irregularities reported in 2005.