Romanian Liberals are sticking together around present party leaders, turning their backs on the Stoica-Stolojan project. ZIUA has learnt about how Tariceanu managed to calm spirits down in the party. Our sources claim he made an offer to the dissatisfied Liberals: more funds from the budget in exchange for feasible development projects. Yesterday the Liberal seniors wrote an open letter to Stolojan asking him to prove his honor by not negotiating on his positive intentions. Sanda Negroponte Tatarascu, Mircea Ionescu Quintus, Neagu Djuvara, Radu Campeanu and Dinu Zamfirescu outline in their message: "The way we know it, the National Liberal Party should prove solidarity." PM Tariceanu has reached a solution to spare the Liberals of the Stolojan temptation. Sources close to the president of the PNL (national Liberal Party) say the PM has decided to provide support from the territory by promoting projects and supplying funds to those Romanian districts where the heads of PNL organizations are thinking about joining the Stoica-Stolojan project. The radical leaders of the PNL branches in Moldova reproached Tariceanu for having no thorough project on regional development and not providing funds on such a purpose. (...) Sources say the PM has set a strategy going and has already started to "stimulate" the budgets for some regions whose Liberal officials are suspected of being keen on Stolojan. Tariceanu is relying on the assumption that such a strategy will bring him substantial support from the local Liberals and get the discontented Liberals isolated. A Liberal leader in Muntenia explains: "As long as the bread and the knife are in Tariceanu's hands, Stolojan's group can't attract powerful supporters." Sources from the PNL board believe Tariceanu intends to grab territorial support fast so that by the time Stolojan returns to Romania he would face the fact. The PM is to meet with the Liberals in Transylvania, his main allies, at the end of the week. (...)

Razvan GHEORGHE, Ovidiu BANCHES