The PSD National Executive Committee has voted on Monday to oust Adrian Ţuţuianu and Marian Neacşu from the party. While Marian Neacsu said he will challenge the decision, Tutuianu pointed out that the decision proves that freedom of expression is sanctioned within the party. The ruling party’s leadership has taken the decision by 53 votes to nine.
“Of course we’ll file appeals, for it is a useless public execution. It is a lie. In the letter and in any other circumstances, we have never had the intention of voting with the Opposition,” said Neacsu, thus revealing one of the charges against them.
The second ousted top member, Adrian Tutuianu has said the decision proves that the party is sanctioning the freedom of speech.
“I have voiced out inside the party. I haven’t seen someone being convicted for a man is recorded in PSD by people who are interested in ruining things in an organization. I have never intended to hide things that are not going well. I think the party is going into a wrong direction“, Tutuianu said.
Tutuianu also said that the Social Democrats who signed the letter asking for Dragnea’s resignation some weeks ago would be all expelled from the party, one by one. In his view, the method of recording the party members and then of executing them will make history within PSD and maybe in other parties, too.
“The precedent is so dangerous so that my colleagues will have to think twice before stating something in the party meetings (…) One by one, they will be executed for a reason or another. It would have been too much to execute one more person today. Think about it, no 3 in the party-secretary general Marian Neacsu- has been ousted, along with me, the only vice-president who had competition. I am regional vice-president, and party branch leader (Tutuianu ran the PSD Dambovita organisation)”, Tutuianu stated.
In his turn, Paul Stănescu, deputy PM, also on the black list for slamming Dragnea, has said that the decision to expel Tutuianu and Neacsu is the biggest mistake that the PSD has ever done. He added he is not afraid of being the next on the sanctions’ list.
Vice-president of the Social Democrat Party Marian Oprisan, alongside other members of the National Executive Committee, had asked for vice-president Adrian Tutuianu and secretary general Marian Neacsu to be ousted from the party in a heated sitting taking place at the Parliament on Monday afternoon.
On the other side, deputy PM Paul Stanescu, has stated he is coming to the CexN meeting “with good thoughts”. He came along other signatories of the anti-Dragnea letter, such as the leader of PSD Buzau, Marcel Ciolacu, secretary general Marian Neacsu and leader of PSD Braila, ex-PM Mihai Tudose, who denied making any statements.
In his turn, the leader of PSD Vaslui, Dumitru Buzatu, stated he would not vote for the exclusion of any member.
Vice-president Robert Negoita also said he would not agree to the ousting of any member, announcing that he “will behave as such” if unprincipled things happen at the meeting.
Leader of PSD Caras-Severin Ion Mocioalca stated that the party leaders have the “great chance” to plead for the unity or for the division of the party.
Before the meeting, PSD chairman Liviu Dragnea stated that meeting “will be unpleasant, but necessary”, underlining he won’t allow anymore that some colleagues conspire against their own government”.
Social-Democrat deputy chairman, Adrian Tutuianu, said on Monday, hours ahead of the Executive Committee, he would not resign as long as he is supported by the colleagues of the Dambovita County organization and by those who signed the letter addressed to the PSD leadership.
“I am not leaving anywhere, I won’t leave the party, as long as I have the support from the Dambovita organization and from the colleagues who signed the letter,” Tutuianu said.
The very day the PSD Executive Committee is to take place, to deal with internal issues and exclusions from the party, new recordings have surfaced, whereby Adrian Tutuianu expressed concern over Dragnea’s fate and about having another Government before January 1.
While in Madrid, Bucharest mayor goes on the offensive against Dragnea: “PSD is led by a toxic character”
Meanwhile, the head of the anti-Dragnea offensive, Bucharest mayor Gabriela Firea, sent a new criticism against the party chairman. Although she is not attending the CexN meeting, as she is on an official trip to Madrid, Firea sent a press release to the media, explaining that she has not left abroad on purpose to miss the party sitting, but that her visit had been settled since August.
In the press release sent on Monday, the Bucharest mayor stated that the Social Democrats cannot continue this away “under terror”, stressing the party is led by a “toxic character”.
“We cannot go on this way, under the terror of exclusions and dissolution. The fear can maintain a status-quo, but only for a while, but it is no solution for progress and construction under any circumstances. Generally speaking, to oust those who want to keep their words to the Romanians is a deeply anti-democratic act. In our case, exclusions will not solve a problem, as some will hope, but it aggravates it,” Firea said.
She added that PSD is led by a man with “weird urges”, that are far from belonging to “a statesman”. She admitted she can be considered guilty of “guaranteeing this toxic character”.
“I know, I am guilty of guaranteeing the existence of this toxic character and I have helped him consolidate his position, from which he is using his power in a discretionary way. Bucharesters are affected by the hostile actions of Liviu Dragnea,” Firea pointed out.
The mayor continued that she is assuming any political consequences for her statements, vowing to remain a left-wing person even if she is not a PSD member.
Dragnea: As long as she doesn’t cross the red line…
Asked after the CExN what will happen with the rest of dissidents in the party, such as Gabriela Firea, PSD chair Liviu Dragnea said that nothing
bad will happen as long as the red line is not crossed, meaning unless they endorse actions against the ruling party.
Dragnea explained what these actions means, the ones “that are hitting the party’s and the ruling coalition’s stability very hard”, or voting against the laws tabled by the Gov’t or the ruling majority, or voting a censure motion initiated by the Opposition.
On the other hand, the PSD chairman says he won’t resign from his positions, “for not burying or blocking some major goals” that he has assumed since 2016.
However, referring to the exclusion of Adrian Tutuianu and Marian Neacsu from PSD, ALDE’s leader Calin Popescu Tariceanu told a TV channel that several colleagues are concerned that the majority in Parliament might be affected, and this is concerning him, too. In his view, there is a certain negative perception across the country regarding the way Romania is heading, “despite the salary rise” and although “inflation has cooled down”.
He argued the Opposition has some lethal weapons that it could use, following Traian Basescu’s pattern.