The PSD’s entry into government could be a chance for the party to regain its electorate, while the PNL and USR risk being unable to counteract the rise of AUR, believes Vlad Bujdei-Tebeica, university assistant within the Faculty of Political Sciences at SNSPA and author of studies analyzing populism, euroscepticism, and contemporary ideological currents. He explains why austerity can fuel the far right and warns of the risks of a merger between liberals and USR.
The Luca Niculescu government has 18 ministers, of which 12 are proposed by PSD, making the Executive a vulnerable minority government. Expert Vlad Bujdei-Tebeica analyzes the strategy of the Social Democrats, the party’s chances of regaining its electorate, and the capacity of PNL and USR to counteract the rise of AUR from the opposition.
The Truth: How beneficial is it for the future of PSD that it will enter the government, with the rest of the Parliament in opposition?
Vlad Bujdei-Tebeica: PSD is in a rather difficult situation anyway. I believe that even if they had gone with the scenario of early elections, they would still have lost. Joining the government may be part of their strategy to promote social policies that appeal to the electorate and to get closer again to the traditional electorate, which they have somewhat forgotten and abandoned through the compromises with PNL over the last two years. I think this is the only way they could come out of this relationship in a somewhat stable and stronger position and could prepare for elections. Indeed, we see some things that are oriented towards the social area.
Then, the social democrats in the Cabinet are experienced politicians, in the sense that they have held those positions before. I can’t necessarily say that they have proven to do much more than carry out the policies of the liberals. The example of Rogobete is clear, he continues to insist on the privatization of the insurance system, which, as I was saying, is a policy that is at least questionable from a social democrat. At the same time, Romania continues to face the highest inflation rate in the European Union and one of the highest rates of erosion of purchasing power. This is also important: wages simply have not kept up with inflation. We have had inflation which, if not in all of the last five-six years, has not fallen below 5.7% except at one point, around 2022, and otherwise, at least until recently, it has been at least 10%, which is very hard to imagine for a European country with Romania’s economy, where, moreover, wages have also stagnated.
It is possible that we may see, who knows, some economic reforms; we should see economic reforms, at least in terms of taxing the profits of large companies which, in these times of crisis, continue to report records, especially in the financial-banking sector or in the oil industry. Perhaps from there some income could increase, in such a way that we may see a relaxation of austerity for ordinary people and, in the end, maybe this will be a good bet even for the future of PSD.
PSD can count on the fact that Bolojan’s supporters have boasted that he will fight against corruption and will weaken the administrative apparatus that has long drained the public budget, thus solving Romania’s problems. However, it turns out that inflation remains very high, and the deficit persists. It seems that all those measures have done nothing but increase the suffering of Romanians, who are pushed even further towards the far right.
Is there something that could stop those from AUR, in the next two years, considering they will remain in opposition?
Firstly, the parties should at least try to counteract and stop AUR, but currently they do not seem to want this. Ideologically, the other parties are just as conservative, and the traditional parties are sometimes even more conservative than AUR. Even PSD seems to be undisturbed by them, even though they have taken over the electorate that, traditionally, they should represent. If the parties want to obtain as many seats as possible in the next legislative elections, they should look again at the needs of those left behind. This is the only strategy that would defeat an AUR in opposition.
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