Still under the trauma of the cancellation of the 2024 presidential elections, the entry of the Bucharest mayor into the race for the Cotroceni Palace at the beginning of last spring was considered by many a way of saving Romania caught between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Even his most skeptical supporters could not have imagined that, in a short time, they would be without a government for more than 5 months and would witness an association between Nicușor Dan and PSD, in a cabinet built behind closed doors, which has no connection to what those who supported the current head of state hoped for.
When Emil Constantinescu won the elections in 1996, I had been a reporter for about four years. After the momentary popular enthusiasm and the surprise that Ion Iliescu had finally been defeated, Emil Constantinescu faced an incredibly difficult mandate: huge unemployment, inflation, impoverishment of the population.
Iliescu and Văcăroiu, the prime minister, had left the country on the verge of bankruptcy. But at no moment during Emil Constantinescu's four-year term did he give in to PSDR, as Ion Iliescu's party was called at that time, later becoming today's PSD.
In the end, he was defeated by the Kremlin network that took power in 1989 and could not run for re-election, as was the case then, but Emil Constantinescu never wavered from the principles and values he promoted and with which he gained the trust of Romanians.
As a reporter and journalist in that turbulent period, I can say that I never had the feeling that the president of Romania at that time had betrayed his supporters, the voters. Also, I never heard other political leaders or personalities of the time supporting this idea.
Yes, Emil Constantinescu was considered a weak president, because he gave in to Ion Iliescu, because he did not run for re-election, even if he was going to lose, because he surrounded himself with yes-men, later involved in all sorts of corruption-related businesses. But never, at least declaratively, did he betray his voters.
The same can be said about Traian Băsescu and Klaus Iohannis, very good presidents in their first term, who remained connected to their electorate in the first five years and even strengthened it. Whether they disappointed in their second term and to what extent is another discussion, but Nicușor Dan is the first president since 1990 who, with a difficult-to-explain, understand, and accept cynicism, has rapidly shocked those who voted for him.
If George Simion had won
After a year and a half since his arrival at the Cotroceni Palace, it is extremely difficult to avoid the question of how and in what way Nicușor Dan acted differently from George Simion, in a situation where the leader of AUR, a character connected to Russia's networks, would have become the president of Romania.
Likewise, there would have been no clarity in the case of the annulled elections. Călin Georgescu and Horațiu Potra would have been just as free as they are now, probably with less support, in the absence of their "heroization" by a corrupt justice system.
MAGA and the Kremlin would have trampled through Romania just as they do now, undisturbed and supported by all sorts of interest groups out of control.
PSD, together with AUR, would have been in power, and the economy would have been in the same situation of instability. The only change - initially there would have been a collapse followed by a slow recovery. Now it's the other way around — Bolojan was allowed to deceive the rating agencies, and then the collapse will follow.
There is a possibility that it would have been slightly worse with George Simion, but there would have been a quicker awakening of the active population, who still believe in democracy, freedom, Europe.
Today, everyone is disoriented and shocked by Nicușor Dan's decisions, actions, and positions.
I repeat, I still believe that the current president is not corrupt. There are many people I have spoken to who know him personally. I have spoken with him several times before he arrived at the Cotroceni Palace. He never gave the impression of having bad intentions, but he always lacked something to make him a leader worthy of being followed.
Why is the president afraid
The fact that, as the head of state, the most powerful person in Romania, allowed PSD to provoke a political crisis and then, for over 5 months, either did not want or could not resolve it says something about his capacity and ability to make decisions.
Also, how can he justify the fact that, after everything that happened, he brought to power the most corrupt and harmful political party, putting his own people in the government like a child trying to show off, tensing up amidst the laughter of adults at a family party?
Nicușor Dan's problem is not that he became president in a difficult context and was crushed by the challenges he faced. The problem is that from the very beginning, he did everything in his power to reach this point, to bring PSD to power alongside him, so he could have the satisfaction of expanding his powers into the executive branch.
If Ilie Bolojan were not a responsible and principled leader, tomorrow, before the Government is voted on, he could trigger the procedures to suspend the current president, signing, together with liberal MPs, the AUR memorandum circulating in Parliament.
Even if it does not come to a vote, it would be amusing to see Nicușor Dan squirm, to see him on tenterhooks that he might lose his job, the thing he seems to fear the most.
Let's pray for the country!
There is a proverb that says what you fear you cannot escape, but in my opinion, the one who will ultimately push him down the stairs will not be USR, the party he created and now wants to destroy, nor PNL, but PSD, the party he is making efforts to save and which he sees as a threat to his mandate.
The new government led by Luca Niculescu, actually a PSD one, will quickly come into conflict with both the prime minister and Nicușor Dan. The complexity of the situation in the country, the corruption scandals plaguing the social democrats, popular discontent, but also the international situation will cause major tensions in the Executive, as well as clashes between Sorin Grindeanu and the president of Romania.
The rift between Nicușor Dan and Ilie Bolojan will be a water gun fight compared to the one between the Cotroceni Palace and PSD, and the social democrats will do what they do best, namely to blackmail the head of state with suspension, while AUR will be ready at any moment to strike another blow to Romania's solar plexus because that's the order from the Kremlin.
If it weren't tragic, it would be amusing. Let's pray for the country!