The new, recently started quarrel between the Romanian President and the Prime Minister continues with another set of conflicting statements. The PM Victor Ponta (in picture) recently responded to president Basescu, who said last week he'd be a better Prime Minister than the current one. In return, Ponta said there are 20 million Romanians “who'd make much better presidents than Traian Basescu, and who love their country, and who'd do more for their country.”

“When I see Traian Basescu saying the same lies, and the same stories, I'm fed up! The only good thing is that I know there are only 500 days left and then he'll be back to the sea, mind his business,” said Victor Ponta.

The PM's statements came after president Basescu said Ponta had left in his Asian tour without having the required mandate from the country's president.

When asked whether these statements are a breach of the institutional agreement between the two, Ponta said it is not a breach, as long as the chief of state does not block the Government's activity. “I am not interested in what Mr. Basescu says. From my point of view, his words are worthless. I am interested in having no intervention over the Governmental activity and not being blocked in any way,” said the PM.

Last week, the temperature rose again on the political scene in Romania, with the President and Prime Minister having again started to quarrel via local media. After the PM made some statements about the recent census data and how this would have affected the presidential impeachment last year, the president too decided to make some comments about the PM. The two have an institutional agreement, which was put in place after international institutions and the EU scolded Romania for the presidential-PM quarrel in the summer of 2012.

This time around, president Traian Basescu criticized the PM Victor Ponta for his recent Asian tour, which he described 'catastrophic, both in terms of image, and in terms of efficiency,' for which the PM did not have a mandate in place, and which should 'have upset me,' according to the president. Basescu said it was mandatory for the PM to ask for a mandate from the country's president, as he was representing Romania abroad, and considering the Constitutional Court decision on the foreign representation being an attribute of the president, and not the PM's. Moreover, a strategic partnership with China goes against the existing partnership Romania has with the US, the president added. However, being received well by the Prime Minister of China was an achievement, the president argued, which is partially due to the fact that Romania is still being respected internationally.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: gov.ro)