Two Liberal leaders, first vice-president Rares Bogdan and secretary general of the National Liberal Party, Robert Sighiartău, have asked for chairman Ludovic Orban’s resignation from the helm of the party.
Robert Sighiartău has told Digi24 on Monday that Ludovic Orban must resign from the party’s helm as the party had been led “on a discretionary basis”. Sighiartău argued that “the Liberals had been placed next to PSD many times through the conduct some of the colleagues in the Orban government and through the manner certain people had been promoted in public offices”.
“From my point of view Ludovic Orban must step down. PNL has lost general elections. Unfortunately, we failed to have a discussion about these elections and there was no analysis in the National Standing Bureau on what happened. Eventually, at the end of the day, the people is always right, and in the general elections, PNL ranked second, after PSD,” PNL secretary general pointed out.
He added that there had been many mistakes during Orban ruling on managing the pandemic and not only on that.
“The party has been led on a discretionary basis over the past year. We must talk inside the party and we have to elect within the congress due in June or in autumn a new team that can take PNL on the first position”, said Sighiartău.
“PNL needs dialogue, democracy. It’s no scandal, but things that must be said, for they have been held too much in some others’ offices”, he argued.
Asked who should be the future PNL chairman, Sighiartău replied: “For now a reformist group is being shaped in PNL, led by people with results – Emil Boc, Ilie Bolojan, Gheorghe Falcă, Florin Roman, Alina Gheorghiu, and the young generation that wants another team and another approach”.
The first vice-president of PNL, MEP Rares Bogdan has also slammed Ludovic Orban, saying that the latter had led the party by himself, without other local leaders “having any kind of real power within the governance”.
According to Rares, Bogdan he regrets he has not asked Ludovic Orba to resign after the party had lost the parliamentary elections.
“Unfortunately, Ludovic Orban has had his head inflated from the Victoria Palce instead of remaining the person he used to be. He imagined himself as an alpha wolf, without whom Romania cannot move forward, somebody who knows everything. Let’s be clear. He is not a bad person. He was a good PM during a terrible period for Romania. I challenge his way of leading the party on a discretionary basis. He did not consult the party when he proposed a minister. He has just come with a list that he put to a vote.”
Bogdan voiced support for the incumbent PM, Florin Citu, arguing that “we must reconfigure the party based on the reformist members”.
The first vice-president of the Liberals, Raluca Turcan has avoided to say if Ludovic Orban should step down from the party’s helm, yet she said that PNL needs a reform and refreshment but all party issues must be discussed inside PNL. “All that means the reform of PNL, which needs being refreshed, must be discussed inside the party, for it is a sign of elegance”, Turcan stated.