PDL and UDMR negotiate reorganisation of Romania

The administrative reorganisation of Romania remains one of the priorities of PDL, according to Emil Boc, and the party is empowered to negotiate this issue within the government coalition.

The president of PDL did not want to comment on the recent statements of some leaders of UDMR who rejected the previous proposals for the administrative-territorial reorganisation.

In this way Boc avoided to give an answer to the president of UDMR, Kelemen Hunor, who said on Thursday that a new division of Romania would not take place until 2012 and if it were to take place before 2012 it would be held without UDMR.

It has been more than half a year since the head of state has launched the debate and PDL has been presenting the administrative-territorial reorganisation as a top priority on which the reform of the state and absorption and the further evolution of the country depend.

Weekly PDL representatives hold debates on this project and almost every week they say that negotiations are being opened within the coalition.

The Liberals Democrats also set out a deadline for the negotiations and project completion, namely 15 November.

UDMR does not want the reorganisation to be made before the elections

The UDMR representatives made statements every day this week, saying that they do not want to discuss the subject until after the 2012 elections.

On Thursday and Friday, the UDMR President, Kelemen Hunor, and László Borbély, clearly said that the reorganisation would not take place before the elections, and if they were to be held before 2012, they would without UDMR.

"It cannot be made before the elections. We said then that it would be better to close the topic because every week God knows how many proposals would be submitted and frankly, we officially have no proposal. So I understand 12 regions, 10 regions we do not have these alternatives!

"We cannot enter the elections with these questions. We have made another proposal. We have submitted a bill to the Parliament with the help of which the economic regions can be established. The protocol with the coalition colleagues contains no provision about the territorial reorganisation", Laszlo Borbely said.

However, the answer of PDL is not precise or rather avoids the core problem.

Thus, the PDL representatives use standard phrases, such as negotiations continue or the reorganisation is not public or "PDL shows flexibility and has made several proposalss with more or fewer regions".

"It is one of PDL's priorities and the party leadership is empowered, I repeat, to conduct negotiations within the coalition and we will make the necessary clarifications. PDL is clearly empowered to support the territorial-administrative reorganisation of the country. Now we are debating the solution with the coalition partners. We have not abandoned this issue", PDL leader Emil Boc said.

Rather contradictory statements, given that UDMR said that officially there was no proposal to negotiate and that they had already sent the message to the PDL.

Meanwhile, the opposition is applauding the UDMR’s attitude and says that indeed the reorganisation must be made by the new legislature after the elections.

Translated by: Denisse-Meda Bucura
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University