Orban said that the PNL chairman is elected by the party’s Congress, and until the congress of this year he is the chairman of the party. He added that he is discussing the problems in the party with his colleagues within the statutory forums, not in the public space.
“PNL chairman is elected by the congress. PNL had a Congress in June 2017 and it will have another one this year. Until the congress, I am the PNL chairman. If I decide to run for a new term I will publicly announce it”, Orban stated.
He added that his duty is to enable the party’s cohesion: “Whatever I have to discuss I a doing it inside PNL (…) Any issue must be discussed within the statutory forums, not in the public space”.
Other Liberal leaders have come to Orban’s aid. Vice-president Gheorghe Falca stated that Ludovic Orban must be treated as a responsible politician and that he should not resign now. Falca told RFI that the row in the party will end in a few days and things will be handled at the party congress due in the autumn of this year.
“Mr. Orban was one of the most responsible politicians, he managed to toppled down the Dancila Government in a tough moment for Romania, he assumed a ruling when almost all were running away from leading the country, when the pandemic came up. The year 2020 was one of the most difficult years for the world, and the Orban Cabinet concluded the year positively”, Falca argued.
Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Emil Boc also opined that ” it is natural to have a public debate on the internal issues up to a point”, but to continue the polemic is “counterproductive“. He said that he doesn’t want any position in the National Liberal Party and that the party chairman can be changed only at the congress.
Other leaders, like the president of Cluj County Council, Alin Tise, said that he doesn’t want to replace a person by somebody else just because the second “is hunting the first’s place for a long time” or “because he has cooler suits and he is younger”.
However, Tise considers that Orban’s resignation would not be enough, but all those who co-signed the decisions in the National Standing Bureau must step aside.
“How will you reform a country with an unreformed party led by some guys who have no political value, some combinators (who are though very well oriented in the gang who are endorsed by the right persons!)?”