Will PSD survive Ion Iliescu?

The coalition's quarrel, initiated by Sorin Grindeanu and Marcel Ciolacu, indicates an attempt by the social democrats to politically capitalize on the former president's death. However, the lack of emotion from the public opinion, the wave of criticism on social media, and the unanswered questions related to the Revolution and the Mineriads, brought back into the spotlight, have thwarted the plan.
Will PSD survive Ion Iliescu?

Between social democrats and Ion Iliescu, any formal connection was severed in 2015, when Liviu Dragnea proposed, supported by the party, the abolition of the position of honorary president, which had been attributed to Ion Iliescu as an acknowledgement that he was the father of FSN, the formation from which PSD was born.

Although Dragnea’s pride did not accept anyone above him during his leadership of the party, an informal connection between social democrats and Iliescu remained, even though the latter had lost all influence over the party’s leadership.

The indictments made by military prosecutors following the investigation of the events from the 1989 Revolution and the Mineriads, even though the respective cases did not reach the court, represented a huge political burden on PSD, with Iliescu being accused of crimes against humanity.

After Liviu Dragnea, the party's president, was imprisoned for corruption, the social democrats entered an existential crisis, focusing on regaining their international credibility and survival.

After the 2020 elections, they entered the Opposition, saved by Klaus Iohannis, who created the PSD-PNL alliance, against the vote of December 2020, in order to secure a reassuring majority in Parliament.

Marcel Ciolacu, the president of PSD at that time, tried to improve the party's image, reconnect it to the European socialist movement, and make the Dragnea era forgotten. In this context, the party's detachment from Ion Iliescu is even more visible.

Ion Iliescu believed in dialogue, balance, and solidarity. He was a genuine intellectual, a man of ideas and principles, who consistently promoted social values and the common good. In an exceptional political career, he distinguished himself through calmness, consistency, and reason.

Marcel Ciolacu, former prime minister and PSD president

Therefore, it was a surprise that Marcel Ciolacu, former party leader, and Sorin Grindeanu, the interim president, tried to politically capitalize on the death of the former head of state.

“For me and my colleagues from PSD, Ion Iliescu remains the social-democratic leader who fundamentally influenced the party's evolution, a politician who demonstrated a deep empathy towards all those in difficulty. Regardless of divergent opinions, his contribution to the country's transition to democracy remains part of the collective memory,” wrote Sorin Grindeanu in a Facebook post announcing Ion Iliescu's passing.

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MOURNING AT PSD. Sorin Grindeanu, interim president of PSD, was present at the Cotroceni Palace to pay his last respects to Ion Iliescu - Photo: Octav Ganea/ Inquam Photos

The statement sparked a series of negative reactions on social media, especially since it brings up empathy towards a political leader accused by prosecutors of crimes against humanity, being the one who ordered the violent repression of political opposition and protesters in University Square.

Soft propaganda and Marcel Ciolacu

But Sorin Grindeanu appears restrained in his discourse compared to Marcel Ciolacu, a former prime minister and PSD leader, one of the most unpopular politicians of the moment, accused by a large part of the public opinion of pushing Romania to the brink through the increase of the budget deficit.

Soft propaganda of a party simulacrum, made at the expense of a former president of Romania, only demonstrates sick hatred and lack of decency. The Snagov Pact is just one example of vision from former President Ion Iliescu that could hardly be equaled by those who do not understand what it truly means to be a statesman,” wrote Marcel Ciolacu on Facebook, criticizing USR's position of not participating in Ion Iliescu's funeral.

Bringing up the Snagov Pact, an informal meeting where the leaders of Romania's main political parties decided the country's strategic objective of joining the European Union, is a weak argument because Marcel Ciolacu does not explain the context in which that meeting took place, who initiated it, why, and who adhered to it in the end.

“Romania has lost today one of the most influential personalities of its recent history. Ion Iliescu, an emblematic leader of Romanian social democracy, was a defining figure for our country's transition to democratic and European values after the December 1989 Revolution,” Marcel Ciolacu further wrote in another Facebook post.

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CEREMONY. The lifeless body of Ion Iliescu was laid at the Cotroceni Palace, where he led Romania between 1990 and 1996, then between 2000 and 2004 - Photo: Octav Ganea/ Inquam Photos

The former prime minister's agitation shows an attempt to regain public attention, using Ion Iliescu's passing, counting on a collective emotion that could overshadow corruption scandals, failed governance, historical failure in presidential elections, and the low score PSD received in parliamentary elections.

A paradoxical situation

But things don't always go as planned, and Ion Iliescu's death shows that a large part of public opinion still holds the former president responsible for the crimes of the Revolution and the Mineriads, as well as more responsible for the fact that he, along with the political elite formed around him in the '90s, blocked the truth about the events that decided Romania's fate.

Without scandal, without petty emotions, and sterile propaganda! You cannot reduce a leader, an era, and a destiny! No matter how hard you try! Rest in peace, Mr. President!

Sorin Grindeanu, interim president of PSD

There is no public emotion surrounding Ion Iliescu's funeral. Moreover, the blockage and corruption in the justice system have created a paradoxical situation - organizing national funerals for a person officially accused of crimes against humanity.

The event only presents a natural interest in the passing of a political leader who buried the ideals of millions of people, reborn after Ceaușescu's dictatorship fell, confiscating the Revolution and handing Romania over to the Kremlin.

History will judge Ion Iliescu, the central figure of the '90s transition. It is our duty to clarify the great cases of that era, in order to move forward with responsibility. May God forgive him!

Nicușor Dan, President of Romania

It was only luck that changed the country's destiny, and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in August 1991 was the great opportunity that left Iliescu without masters, forcing him to slowly turn his face towards the West.

Through Grindeanu and Ciolacu's statements, Iliescu's empathy strategy, the attack on USR, a governing partner, all indicate a major breakdown within the party, insecurity, and leadership crisis, making one wonder how long PSD will survive after Ion Iliescu?


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