PM Dancila: Iohannis forgot separation of powers in state and wants to effectively subordinate all

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila accused President Klaus Iohannis of "forgetting the separation of powers", and that he is behaving like "a party leader" and being the one who "wants to bring the Government down", the one who "urges MPs to vote for the motion". "From this entire battle there is one thing that could never have happened in any country in which there is democracy, in no member state of the EU: the President of Romania, the one who's supposed to be impartial, the one who should bring consensus, is the one who is effectively urging MPs to vote for the motion, is the one who wants to bring down the Government. This is not understandable and I believe the citizens of Romania will punish it. It's not normal for the President of Romania, who should be the President of all Romanians - regardless of political affiliation, regardless if they're state employees or working in multinationals, regardless of their professions - he should be the President for all of them. We see this time an abuse that not even Traian Basescu would commit, in that the President is behaving like a party leader, which is not normal and not acceptable. Moreover, from the things said by President Iohannis, we can note three things, he wants a new presidential mandate, he wants 'My government' and, this time, he wants 'My Parliament' as well. So, I see the President of Romania forgot about the separation of powers and wants to effectively subordinate all of them to himself. This is unacceptable and I believe that all who see the statements of the President, the involvement of the President, will punish such things," said Viorica Dancila, on Wednesday, at private broadcaster Antena 3, when asked if the departure of the Government following a censure motion would help Klaus Iohannis in his campaign for the presidential elections. The Prime Minister reiterated, in context, that the censure motion will not pass, and the government will not be ousted. "The motion will not pass, the Government will not be ousted and I am saying this because I believe in the responsibility of all members of the Parliament of Romania, I believe they can make a difference between a responsible party, which came in front of the electorate with a governing program, which is close to the citizens and a very flimsy censure motion, which says nothing and with a good-for-nothing promise - we do not see a governing program, there is no Cabinet which can replace the current Government. I believe many of the members of Parliament, even among those who signed this motion, will not vote for it tomorrow, because when returning to their constituencies, to their counties, they will have to tell mayors why they did it, why mayors cannot continue their projects in their communities, projects which were granted by the Government through the PNDL [National Plan for Local Development] 1 and PNDL 2 regardless of political color, they will have to explain to pensioners why they ousted a government that increased their pensions and will continue to increase them and instead they will get a government that wants to reintroduce austerity, they will have to answer many, many questions," Dancila stated. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor; Antonia Nita; author: Razvan-Adrian Pandea, editor: Simona Iacob)