Editorial

Dear Professor Petre,

Cosmin Gusa may be all the things you say and more. But Dan Pavel does not serve the cause of pluralist politics in Romania by saying that he should be treated as an outcast.

A recent opinion poll showed that no less than 45% of Romanians felt there was no party prepared to defend their interests.

One reason for this I think is that most Romanians view politics as an exclusive club involving a restricted number of privileged people who make deals and occasionally pursue vendettas against each other; there's nothing in it for them.

When Dan Pavel advises his political readers to freeze Gusa out, he is reinforcing the view that politics is an exclusive pursuit, not for 'the little people'.

Despite his obnoxious airs, I suspect there are quite a few young people who admire Cosmin Gusa for refusing to bend the knee to the PSD and for walking out altogether. Say what you like about him ,but it was a bold act of defiance.

Also the PSD displayed more nerve than the CDR in appointing a complete outsider to control its affairs in 2001. One remembers the way the electorate was promised in 1996 that 40,000 technicians would be swept into governmment to transform Romania and we know that continuity rather than change proved to be the reality in many respects during the next 4 years.

Zoe Petre has provoked me to do something which I thought was impossible...to say a kind word about the PSD.But I think opposition analysts need to avoid a tribal and heavily personalised approach to politics, otherwise they will reach out to very few of those 45% of Romanians who feel betrayed by all sides of the political spectrum.

Tom Gallagher