The members of the SDP - D-LP coalition did not manage to mobilize themselves on Tuesday in order to validate Sever Voinescu, the democrat-liberal proposal, on the position of secretary of the Chamber. The coalition of 70 percents has gathered only 146 votes out of the 167 necessary for this procedure, well over 50 social-democrat or democrat-liberal deputies voted against Voinescu, according to parliamentary sources. The voting puzzled the president of the Chamber, the democrat-liberal Roberta Anastase, who had rejected a request coming from the social-democrat Adrian Năstase regarding the postponing of the vote until the introduction of new regulations by which these designations have to be done with the consent of the majority of the present deputies.

Maximum frustration amongst the democrat-liberals. The democrat-liberal deputy from Ploieşti, Sever Voinescu, could not gather the votes necessary for his designation as secretary of the Chamber - an open position due to the departure of his colleague, Cezar Preda. In order to place him in this position, a simple majority out of the total deputies' number was necessary, meaning 167 votes. Since the deputies from the Opposition count only 85 votes, whereas the coalition 228, the score of 124 options against this designation registered after the first round has bewildered the democrat-liberal leaders from the Chamber. The re-voting only made things worse. The number of Voinescu's supporters dropped from 146 to 114, while other 30 deputies from the coalition joined those who had voted against him. Parliamentary sources claim that several deputies from SDP and D-LP preferred to vote against Sever Voinescu, who is seen as one of Traian Băsescu's trust-worthy persons. Voinescu managed to cause the first crack within the coalition by this vote, being envied by his democrat-liberal colleagues for his quick ascension both in the party in parliamentary structures, and hated by the social-democrats for his previous attacks against the Social Democrat Party. Some democrat-liberal parliamentarians, such as William Brânză or Marius Roghin, have been completely amazed by this proposal, as they intended to claim the vacancy following Cezar Preda.

Voinescu, a pretext for a new Anastase-Năstase pride conflict

The irony of the fate, doubled by pride or reason, made Roberta Anastase reject the proposal of her former adversary, Adrian Năstase, to postpone the vote until the Regulation was set in concordance with a text belonging to the Constitutional Court. Năstase warned her that Sever Voinescu could be elected as secretary of the Chamber based on an unconstitutional text from the Regulation, as the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies had not operated the modification of article 23 so that the naming of the members from the Standing Office be done by vote belonging to a majority of deputies present at the respective meeting. Despite the warning, the president of the legislative forum claimed that, since the Regulation Commission report had not been sent to the plenary, the Chamber was working according to the old Regulation. She added that, until the new regulation was modified, "Everything was OK”. Therefore, Anastase continued the voting procedure. The result of the voting left her speechless. Still, she had the power to announce that the deputies would organize a second voting to name Sever Voinescu in the position of secretary of the Chamber of Deputies.

Social-democrat mocks

The disastrous second attempt triggered laughter from the social-democrat parliamentarians. "Năstase offered her a finger, and she took it as a slap. Oltean should take over once and for all and stop her from making a fool of herself”, declared a social-democrat. Sever Voinescu was proposed for the position of secretary of the Chamber of Deputies as Cezar Preda resigned in order to be the president of the Parliamentary Commission dealing with supervising the RIS (SRI) activity.

Deputatul PNL Alina Gorghiu a anunţat, în plenul Camerei Deputaţilor depunerea de către liberali a moţiunii simple intitulate „Educaţia sub cenzura Ecaterinei Andronescu, istoria se repetă”. Deputatul PNL a precizat că moţiunea liberalilor este „o reacţie la bâlbâielile doamnei Ecaterina Andronescu, la două luni şi jumătate de când a fost numită ministru”.

The epic of the chairs from the Chamber of Deputies seems to draw to an end. Starting Monday, the vice-president Adrian Năstase no longer sits next to the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Roberta Anastase; the seats from the left, respectively right, are reserved for the vice-presidents Ioan Oltean and Daniela Popa. The chief of the democrat-liberals from Prahova has attacked Năstase in an interview given to a central daily paper, stating that he represents a "brand only in Mizil, where he managed to buy his parliamentary chair with several products”.

Delegaţia Permanentă a PNL a decis modificarea Statutului partidului în sensul înfiinţării funcţiei de prim-vicepreşedinte şi includerii în conducerea partidului a liderilor celor mai performante opt filiale. Călin Popescu Tăriceanu a anunţat că viitoarea structură de conducere a PNL va avea un preşedinte, un prim-vicepreşedinte cu atribuţii "nu foarte largi" şi 29 de membri în Biroul Politic Central, dintre care 14 vicepreşedinţi.

Epopeea scaunelor din Camera Deputaţilor pare a se apropia de sfârşit. Vicepreşedintele Adrian Năstase nu mai stă, începând de luni, alături de preşedintele Camerei Deputaţilor, Roberta Anastase, locurile din stânga, respectiv dreapta revenind vicepreşedinţilor Ioan Oltean şi Daniela Popa. Şefa pedeliştilor prahoveni l-a atacat pe Năstase, într-un inteviu acordat unui coditian central, spunând despre acesta că reprezintă „o marcă doar la Mizil, acolo unde, cu diverse mărci de produse, a reuşit să-şi cumpere locul de parlamentar”.

The elections for the European Parliament will take place on June 7th according to an order approved by the Executive last Wednesday in a meeting. Last week, the Government adopted an emergency order by which it modified and completed the Law 33/2007 referring to the organization and development of the elections for the European Parliament.

Conservatorii şi social-democraţii vor participa pe liste comune la alegerile europarlamentare, obiectivul vizat de cele două formaţiuni politice fiind obţinerea unui număr cât mai mare de voturi. Anunţul a fost făcut, într-o conferinţă de presă, şi de către Adrian Mărăcineanu, preşedintele PC Prahova. Mărăcineanu nu a putut, însă, să precizeze dacă vreun conservator prahovean va fi prezent pe listă.

Alegerile pentru Parlamentul European vor avea loc pe data de 7 iunie, potrivit unei hotărâri aprobate în şedinţa de miercuri a Executivului. În urmă cu o săptămână, Guvernul a adoptat o Ordonanţa de Urgenţă prin care a modificat şi a completat Legea 33/2007 privind organizarea şi desfăşurarea alegerilor pentru Parlamentul European.