There are several actions President Traian Basescu has undertaken that show fear has seized him. For more than two years he has been trying to be a president-player. As the opposition is now about to turn him into a transient President, Basescu has thought it over and he has changed attitude, at least formally. He has left the impression that he is a head of state fond of respect for the Constitution and of his role as arbitrator. There are two initiatives opened by Cotroceni Palace that confirm the supposition. The first consists in the successive staff shifts within Presidency and the second one is the President's more recent will to talk to civil society and political parties in order to find a solution to end the crisis. Is Basescu ready for a form of cohabitation that should keep us away from crises and stormy conflicts in the time to come until elections? No matter the CVs of the people appointed to Cotroceni Palace a few days ago, people whose presence changes the board of advisers, I am fully convinced that by such chance in Presidency Basescu is only trying to get himself a new political look. His image is shabby now, not because of the crises he provoked, but especially because of serious failures. Early elections, the confiscation of the National Liberal Party and the failure to sack Tariceanu are the most important ones. He is isolated on the stage of politics. As he succeeded to make all the others, except for some Democrats, reach solidarity against him, Basescu is facing an initiative meant to suspend or even dismiss him, if the opposition takes into account the "key" from the Constitutional Court, related to the modification of the referendum law. Given this, the only solution left to him is to belittle the significant loss of popularity effecting from the activity of the parliamentary committee looking into the matter. But such an operation can only be of aesthetic nature. A new political look for the President. By which means? By replacing some advisers, by fetching a much younger team to Cotroceni Palace, a much less vulnerable team, less involved in illegitimate groups of interests, and also by opening persuasive action at civil society and political level as well. Did Traian Basesacu decide to bring not Romania's, but the world's wisest men to Cotroceni Palace, it would be useless. As shown, he doesn't take their advice on any account. Presidency advisers are good only for the group picture. Basescu will continue to do what he thinks appropriate. And apart from image effects, on short term the changes in Cotroceni Palace will have no political impact whatsoever. The same goes for the consultations due early this week. The purpose is double, but useless: to persuade people into thinking that the President isn't in the habit of causing crisis, but on the contrary, he is the man who tries to reach some solutions, and to fight against Tariceanu, to give him the sack by confiscating the second solution the opposition is considering. The Social-Democrat Party is willing to support a Liberal minority government to emerge by the government restructuring to be announced soon and also by dumping the Democrat Party. The spare solution is a national union government of technocrats. Well, Traian Basescu is trying to grab this Social-Democrat project, to propose it to civil society and the parties attending this week's consultations. I wonder why he didn't use this scenario in the very beginning, in December 2004, when it was obvious that Romanian society was so split that no stable government could be achieved without the Social-Democrats? Or when he violated the Constitution by empowering the Alliance?

Sorin Rosca STANESCU