Mircea Marian: “Iliescu makes his comeback with a not very convincing socialist politician”
Villas or penthouses, luxury cars, holiday residences in Austria, fabulously expensive hunting gear and fortunes worth of millions of euros: this is the profile of the public in front of which Ion Iliescu had to give a speech that would revive socialist values. I wonder how hard it was for the former Romanian president to choose between a Party leader that drives around in German cars and another one, who prefers the cars manufactured by imperialistic Americans.
I find it hard to believe that deep down his soul, the ex-communist activist thinks that the rich people of the Social Democrat Party (PSD), ever think about the fate of the poor and the many.
And in a way, I suspect that, no matter how nostalgic Ion Iliescu might be, he isn’t that naïve as to think he can still charm the poor and frustrated electing people from Romania, by speaking of equality and social protection and still come round the ever fresh rich people of transition who are accustomed with anti-corruption prosecutors.
This is not a rare phenomenon here in Romania. The term of “caviar socialism” was first used by a French journalist. The hypocrisy that characterized rich socialists was also collocated through „Chardonnay socialist“, „gauchiste vin rouge“, or „radical-chic“.
There is no doubt that Iliescu is not a part of such categories and he realizes the type of people he ended up with. But the idealism has its limits and the old communist is first of all obsessed with power. Right now, he fights to take over the lead of PSD in order to bring his favorite party back to power. Nastase is nothing but an instrument needed to cast away the present leader of the party, Mircea Geoana, the man who took his place in April 2005.
I can’t figure out how many days do the leaders of Romanian social-democrats have left, but the inside battle that Iliescu and Nastase have provoked might just lead to the burial of their own political party. The most vulnerable character in this game, and at the same time, the ideal candidate to Romania’s Presidency (according to Traian Basescu, off course !) is none other than Adrian Nastase.
Numerous sociological studies show that the Romanian people sees the former Prime Minister as the most corrupt politician in Romania by far. In the moths to come, the anti-corruption prosecutors will do everything in their power to confirm this perspective. Furthermore, no matter how short the collective memory could be, it would be hard to forget the shocking display of the fortune gathered by the former prime-minister, which he childishly exposed, while pressured by the court.
Kind of weak then, the caviar socialism whom Ion Iliescu wishes to strike with again. In the nineties, the former exporter could rely on the iron fist of miners and metal workers from IMGB.
The fuzzy little slap of Adrian Nastase might hit Geoana, but it will never have the campaign force of the feisty APACA workers.