Right after Romanian senators approved of the 5% VAT on basic food products, senator Ilie Sarbu expressed his gratitude for his colleagues in the PRM (Greater Romania Party), the PC (Conservative Party) and the UDMR (Democrat Union of Magyars in Romania) who voted for the initiative belonging to the PSD (Social-Democrat Party). The government's representative described the measure adopted as unbearable for the state budget. Given his ungratefulness for the support his Cabinet had got from the shadow for quite a while now, PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu threatened to address the Constitutional Court against the law, in case of promulgation. Normally, the PSD should hurry to announce they are fed-up with the government's untratefulness and they are comming up with bill against the government. The party wouldn't admit that the PM is actually the initiator of the pension raise in an electoral year. Now it would be too much to deprive him of the pleasure emerging from vain promises on the cheaper bread, meat, sugar and oil in an electoral year. As far as social democracy is oncerned, such an offense is almost impossible. But iven the romance betwen the Liberals and the Social-Democrats in the last year, it looks possible. But why? Last autumn the PSD was about to make a huge blunder and pass their own bill. It was only due to the vigilence of the MPs close to Ion Iliescu and Adrian Nastase and also to Traian Basescu's quickness that the surprise of PSD constancy was avoided. The first thing is that both Ion Iliescu and Adrian Nastase are unfond of Mircea Geoana. As for Traian Basescu, he was afraid that he would see his supporters forced to take over and exhaust themselves in vain before elections. Adrian Nastase's claim to get to rule the party again and Mircea Geoana's inability to let himself on the margin are sheer luck for the PNL (National Liberal Party). As they feel no fear, the Tariceanu Cabinet members have got the opportunity to take some measures to please the right electorate whom they just invoke, but whom they haven't represented. To this end they should start by using upside down the opinion Adrian Nastase expressed in a newspaper yesterday: "From a political point of view, one is the way one argues." One start would be for the PM to do what he promised last Tuesday, together with Mugur Isarescu and Varujan Vosganian: put an end to electoral alms, even if coming from a former priest like Ilie Sarbu. Then he should take a look in the government's agenda. The fiscal cut, the return of property and decentralization have been just issues for debated for too long now. In other words, Adrian Nastase's creed would sound like this: "do what the priest says, not what the priest does" or "do you trust what you see or what I say". This is the principle guiding the ex PM who once ordered prosecutors to pick up citizens Iane and Ciuvica from the street and who insulted the members of the CNSAS (national Council for Research on the Communist Secret Service Archive) by calling them profiteers. But this principle has been just an issue for complex debates in the Nicolae Titulescu Institute. It is just that Adrian Nastase wouldn't stick to debates only. He wants to be what he used to and even more. He want to be a president of party and of state. It's his business. But whis is why he has been defiling justice authorities to muffle the criminal cases against himself. This is the way Mircea Geoana is getting weapons and firing from all positions. Maybe in the entrace hall to the party premises in central Bucharest he should hang some paitings showing Iane and Ciuvica. For remembrance. Once settled that in the PSD things are just like in Iraq, the Liberals should just slap the Social-Democrats every time the latter try to suck some votes from the budget. They were anyway given too much in exchange for voting for the budget. For the PNL this would be an opportunity to escape the PSD domination. In the time left till elections we shall se much populism in the Parliament, meant to promise virtual heaven to all Romanian localities. few MPs will afford to be honest at such times and vote against it, since they fear the others may discredit them in the electoral eye. Now there is no time left to change the government. Therefore it would be most honest for all ompetitors to unveil their true faces. It is time for us to see how popular the Democrat-Liberals are, how populist the Social-Democrats are and how liberal the Liberals are.

Roland Calin PENA