Romania president Basescu: I regret designating Tariceanu as Prime Minister

Romania president Traian Basescu declared in an interview for a local TV station, Tele M, in Iasi, that he deeply regrets naming Liberal Calin Popescu Tariceanu as Prime Minister in 2004, instead of a member of his own supporting party, the Democrats. „The Government would have worked a lot better and I would have had a partner”, said Basescu, adding that he also regrets some of his outbursts. The president declared that, in case none of the parties obtains over 50% at the future general elections, he imagines a strong minority government, holding 40% of the seats in Parliament.

In 2004, Democrats and Liberals ran together, in the „Justice and Truth” Alliance. Once Basescu (running from the Democrats) was elected president, he formed an unstable parliamentarian majority and named Liberal Calin Popescu Tariceanu as Prime Minister. The alliance soon broke and, one year later, some Liberals who supported Basescu’s policies, fled to form another party, the Liberal-Democrats. The Liberal-Democrats eventually merged with Basescu’s Democrats, forming the Democrat-Liberal Party.

In the interview for Tele M, Traian Basescu also said that he regrets some of his outbursts, which he considers part of his interior structure, including the famous episode when he called a journalist „stinking gypsy”, as well as other bad language situations.

Still, Basescu’s real regret seems to be naming Tariceanu as prime minister, one of the basic conditions for the very existence of the „Truth and Justice” alliance. „In six months, the fears I had about Tariceanu proved to be true”, said Basescu.