Basescu - "alone against everybody" is a legend. He's the outlaw a bit rough who takes from the rich and gives to the poor. He's the musketeer who laughs at risks and, who, wearing only in a shirt, a mandatory white one, is fighting a duel with all the cardinal's guards at a time. He's also a lonely cowboy, a little bit addicted to drink, a little bit of a womanizer, but who does not hesitate to crossfire with a whole gang of ill-doers so that good may prevail in a Far West small town. Sometimes, he's the policeman who also goes over the law to protect the law itself and also his right to some vices that make him even nicer. All these Hollywood-like patterns and also a few other are part of Traian Basescu's image skillfully built and kept up. For documentation, see Errol Flynn's list of films. In reality, in spite of an indisputable political isolation, Basescu is not quite alone. Two parties, the intelligence services, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, the General Parquet and the DNA (National Department against Corruption) are substantial dishes at his disposal in the war on life and death he has initiated. The true lonely person on the political scene is not Basescu, but Tariceanu. Who are his allies? None! Tariceanu is being dealt gently with (not supported) by PRM (Great Romania Party), PSD (Social-Democrat Party) and PC (Conservative Party) just to avoid anticipated elections. However this circumspection is conditioned, and its price is terrible. The restoration is obvious. Romania will probably have a penal code of the ex-minister of Justice and ex-collaborator of the Communist Secret Police, Rodica Stanoiu. Another ex-collaborator of the Communist Secret Police, Dan Voiculescu, is now running the Committee of investigation of the president. The parliamentary majority has changed, the legislative is now at the mercy of the Iliescu (Geoana) - Vadim - Voiculescu triplet, and PNL (National Liberal Party) votes by their side. It is not difficult to guess what the Liberal electorate feels (probably the most educated in Romania), given such a company. It is not difficult to guess as well how easy Tariceanu's new "allies" will get rid of him when they do not need him any longer. The PM tries to appear detached from the petty politics games. He most often succeeds in only being ridiculous. So was the ultimatum addressed to Basescu and Geoana to give up the referendum, and to the suspension of the president, respectively. Otherwise, the Prime Minister warned that he would be obliged to act against his own convictions and to postpone the Euro-parliamentary elections. It's a way of saying take him off me, otherwise I'll kill him! The same was his "courage" to comment, only after Basescu had left the government meeting he had chaired: "After topics that had nothing to neither with the Constitution nor the Law on the functioning of the presidency, let's go back to work". What has stopped Tariceanu from clearly telling Basescu: "what you want is illegal and unconstitutional"? The PM is lonely in his party, as well. Caught between the hard liners group of Antonescu, Hasotti and Orban, and the one of the moderates led by Cioroianu, ready anytime to make compromise with the Cotroceni Palace, Tariceanu is on the verge of being thrown out like a bad tooth at any tipping of the political scene. Loneliness is so much more dangerous as he ventured into a bewildering slalom for the bystanders on the sides. He wants a minority Liberal government, backed up by PSD, PRM and PC, but he doesn't want to be accused of having broken the alliance with PD. He wants Basescu to be suspended, but he doesn't want to be accused of playing into the Opposition's hands. He wants to have the Euro-parliamentary elections postponed, but he wants others to be blamed of it. He wants to make a figure of a politician with personality, but doesn't have the courage of direct confrontations with the president. He wants to appear in an image different from the president's conflictual one, and still he replies to the latter with comical delays. Basescu plays wonderfully only one type of characters: those of a lonely knight. Tariceanu tries too many and too affected complex parts, that don't turn out well. Powerlessness makes ever lonelier.

Adrian PATRUSCA