EDITORIAL

The dispute on whether to give Daniel Morar, a head of the DNA (National Anti-Corruption Department), one more mandate or get him replaced has reached so high that the Tariceanu Cabinet's credibility is now put through the test, just like the power of the opposite side, grouped around Cotroceni Palace. Some days ago the European Commission expressed support for Daniel Morar, which is complicating things even more instead of simplifying them. It is so because the government has to reply, if not explicitly, at least by a document expressing protest, which they did not express explicitly that time by ignoring the European Commission's warning. What will happen in August 12?

The "rescue Daniel Morar" operation is extremely important to Cotroceni Palace. This is why it has been very skillfully coordinated so far. Why am I saying these two things? Suppose what happened in the Bucharest City Hall will get repeated in the DNA. Did this latter fortress surrender too, Traian Basescu would obviously have smaller resources for action against his adversaries. He would no longer use criminal cases against them, so there would be fewer politicians and businessmen to fear him. The electoral campaign too would have poorer human and financial resources. The PD-L (Democrat-Liberal Party) would no longer manage to spend ten times more than the other parties on the campaign.

What did Sorin Oprescu do right after getting his seat in the City Hall? He browsed the records and ran into severe crimes, which is why he dismissed various people and he has proceeded to criminal complaints. Traian Basescu himself is to be the target of one because of a piece of land he leased to favor some real estate businessmen.

If this gets repeated in the DNA and the institution gets a new boss, Cotroceni Palace will be even more jeopardized. Here are two reasons strong enough to motivate all the available resources in order to help Daniel Morar continue to head the DNA. There were three agents acting on the European Commission. Monica Macovei was reloaded one more time and she surely is skilled at complaining. Some civil society organizations controlled by Traian Basescu did the same, due to the support coming from the generous budget of the Romanian Cultural Institute. And the political component was not neglected either. It is to be reminded that Traian Basescu decided out of the blue to change his party from a socialist one into a people's party. And it is the EPP members who dominate in the European Commission. So why wouldn't they give their kin a hand? Still let us admit, apart from such circumstances, that the European Commission's honest opinion is that Daniel Morar is the key to Romania's main institution fighting corruption and that the man is as fit as a glove to head it, in moral, professional and intellectual terms. Let us admit that those who want him to get no more mandate are wrong and that the intentions of some are good and those of others are evil. Even so, how could we measure the government's options?

If the Tariceanu Cabinet provides Daniel Morar with another mandate, it will be an explicit and public consent to some severe conclusions. The first and the most important one is that none of the accusations against Daniel Morar, concerning the political interference in some criminal inquiries, is grounded. So Daniel Morar would be as pure as a water lily. The second one is that the government will have to implicitly accuse Justice of corruption or of bias in the best case, since so many cases provided by Daniel Morar were dismissed. The third is that, politically speaking, one more mandate for Daniel Morar would be the Liberals' surrender to Traian Basescu. And the fourth one will be the government's surrender to the European Commission.

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