Pressure on Romanian minister worries EU

ROMANIA:Romania's president Traian Basescu has urged prime minister Calin Tariceanu not to postpone the country's first elections to the European Parliament, in an escalation of a damaging row between the new EU member state's most powerful politicians.

Mr Tariceanu threatened to reschedule the vote, planned for May 13th, unless Mr Basescu and opposition leaders stop squabbling over electoral reform and a parliamentary commission investigating whether the president should be impeached for alleged "serious violations of the constitution".

The latest row comes after the president and prime minister had a heated argument on national television, and Brussels baulked at parliament's vote of no confidence in Monica Macovei, the justice minister, whose tough stance on corruption helped guide the country into the EU on January 1st. This also made her many powerful enemies in politics and big business.

"If the situation does not change, I will decide to postpone elections for the European Parliament until they are given the necessary attention," Mr Tariceanu said, saying clashes between Mr Basescu and the opposition "would affect the principal debate, which should be focused on European issues."

"If you don't give up . . . I will hold you responsible if we fail to fulfil commitments to Romanians and our European partners," said the premier, who also leads the Liberal party, which forms an increasingly strained ruling coalition with Mr Basescu's Democratic party.

Perpetuating the pair's public battle of wills, Mr Basescu responded with a letter addressed to Mr Tariceanu demanding that the ballot go ahead as planned.

"I ask you not to accept, from reasons reflecting either personal or party interests, the change of the already established calendar for the European Parliamentary elections. The set date, May 13th, 2007, has to become the test of our political maturity, as a new EU member state," the president said. "I know that the European Union member states and institutions expect Romania to prove its full democratic capacity on this occasion."

The sharp exchange, in which both men claimed the moral high ground and cast doubt on the motives of the other, was representative of a political partnership that has swiftly gone sour.

Mr Basescu and Mr Tariceanu teamed up to inflict a surprise defeat in late 2004 on the Social Democrats (PSD), who had dominated Romanian politics since 1989, when their party rose from the wreckage of the communist Ceausescu regime.

Over the years, the PSD became almost synonymous with graft and cronyism, and many of its leaders became rich while most of Romania's 22 million people struggled through a mire of poverty, inefficiency and corruption at every level.

The PSD's defeat in 2004 stunned many Romanians and was welcomed by the EU, which was soon hailing the anti-corruption drive of the new government under the vigorous guidance of justice minister Monica Macovei, a former human rights lawyer.

In what many people see as a case symptomatic of the problems facing Romania's reform drive, Ms Macovei is now under pressure from opposition parties, which succeeded last month in winning a vote of no confidence against her.

The vote was not enough to force her to resign, and she won vocal backing from both president and prime minister.

However, it showed the resurgence of the PSD and allies who accuse Ms Macovei of attacking political enemies and of seeking high-profile targets when targeting genuine criminals.

About 300 people rallied in Bucharest last week to support the minister. She refuses to resign and says opponents are trying to derail an anti-corruption drive that threatens their interests.