The political situation in Romania is deteriorating by the day. On March 26, the ruling coalition of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Party (PD) came even closer to collapse after prime minister Calin Tariceanu declared that relations between the two parties had broken down.

“We are witnessing the death” of the centre-right Justice and Truth Alliance (as the coalition is called), Tariceanu said as, quoted by Associated Press (AP). Tariceanu, who leads the PNL, said this after he held talks with PD leaders. The prime minister blames the PD (which used to be headed by Basescu prior to becoming president) for the breakdown. He said that Basescu’s PD was making life impossible for the PNL.

The democrats, on the other hand, asked the prime minister to say whether he still wanted the PD in the government.

“We have asked the prime minister to come up very soon with a reshuffled government plan: with or without PD. PD is ready to accept any of the two variants,” said PD executive president Adriean Videanu. He said that it was obvious that even if the democrats stay in the government, both parties would lose a number of ministries in the reshuffle, news agency Mediafax reported on March 25.

Tariceanu did not come out with a clear answer to PD’s request. He was to announce the future government formula at the end of week March 26 to April 1, news agency Nine O’clock reported on March 27.

The war between the PNL and the PD went public in 2006 when Tariceanu said that Romania should pull its troops out of Iraq, a position that was strongly opposed by Basescu. Tariceanu, however, showed his determination to proceed with the idea, when on March 26 he requested that defence minister Sorin Fruzaverde initiate consultations with the allies with a view to withdrawing the country’s troops from Iraq. “It is time to get our troops back home,” he said as quoted by Mediafax.

The dispute between the coalition members continued with an announcement by Tariceanu on March 10 that Romania was to postpone the country’s European Parliament elections. These were initially scheduled for May 13 but will now take place some time in the autumn. Tariceanu’s argument for the decision was that the numerous political disputes in the coalition would distract from consideration of the nation’s role in the EU, AP reported.

“I have noted that in the past two months political forces in disputes prefer to (play) political games rather than have a serious debate about Romania’s European problems. I am doing this in the interest of Romania and Romanians,”Tariceanu said.

One of the disputes he referred to was Basescu’s desire to change the country’s voting system. Another was an opposition party’s claim that Basescu had interfered in party politics, and in doing so, overstepped the mandate of his office. As a result of this, three opposition parties set up a committee to investigate whether Basescu should be impeached. Videanu accused the prime minister of making decisions without consulting the other coalition party (the PD).

The saga worsened when on live national television about a month ago, Tariceanu and Basescu accused each other of involvement in dubious multi-million-dollar energy deals. Tariceanu had been invited to talk about the role of Romania’s media moguls. However, the discussion quickly turned into a debate about the ongoing political feud between the president and the prime minister.

Tariceanu accused Basescu of intervening on behalf of an aluminium company to help it secure a cheap energy deal. Minutes later, Basescu called the studio’s telephone and responded live on television to the accusation. “Excuse me, mister prime minister – I don’t want a nasty scene – but I’m asking you not to lie in public. Just because you are on TV, it doesn’t mean you can say anything you want about me,” he said, as quoted by the BBC. Basescu, on the other hand, also accused Tariceanu of involvement in dubious contacts and tolerating “a mafia” in the energy sector. Under the Romanian constitution the president appoints the prime minister but does not have the authority to dismiss him.

The television episode made it more than clear how fragile the centre-right coalition government has become. As a direct negative implication of the coalition infighting is the fact that Romania no longer has a foreign minister after Basescu blocked the appointment of Tariceanu’s nominee for the job, saying he did not have enough experience. The former foreign minister, Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, who is seen as closer to the president than to the prime minister, resigned last month at Rariceanu’s request after he failed to inform Basescu that two Romanians had been arrested by US troops in Iraq. Moreover, for months now, Romania has had no ambassadors in key capitals such as Washington, DC, and London, because of disputes between Basescu and Tariceanu over candidates.

As already noted, Basescu is at also at odds with three opposition parties. On March 21, a parliamentary commission recommended suspension and impeachment of Basescu for violating the constitution and interfering in the government. In a report by the 12-member commission, the opposition said that the president had undermined the government, refused to name ministers proposed by Tariceanu, participated abusively in cabinet meetings, ordered illegal telephone tapping, and told prosecutors what cases to investigate. This was reported by AP on March 21. The report was to be sent to the Constitutional Court, which is to decide if Basescu should be suspended. Parliament will then vote on a potential suspension and a referendum would have to be held. However, the president is still considered as one of Romania’s most trusted politicians by the public and it is unlikely that voters would choose to suspend him from the presidency.

The EU is watching the situation in the country with concern, for it is counting on Romania to carry out major reforms to decrease corruption and bring its economy in line with Western neighbors, AP said on March 26. EU worries about the Romanian government come as no surprise as the country has only recently joined the union. Romania, as much as Bulgaria, is yet expected to justify its membership. Thus, such a serious and outward political crisis, and so soon after January 1, could be expected to aggravate skepticism.