Conservative Party (Romania)
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| Partidul Conservator Conservative Party |
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| Leader | Dan Voiculescu |
| Senate Leader | Dan Voiculescu |
| Chamber Leader | Bogdan Ciucă |
| Founded | 18 December 1991 |
| Headquarters | Calea Victoriei, 118 Bucharest |
| Political Ideology | Conservatism |
| International Affiliation | none |
| European Affiliation | none |
| European Parliament Group | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| Colours | Blue |
| Website | www.partidulconservator.ro |
| See also | Politics of Romania |
- This article refers to the current Conservative Party in Romania. For the Romanian Conservative Party that existed between 1880 and 1918, see Conservative Party (Romania, 1880-1918).
The Conservative Party of Romania (Romanian: Partidul Conservator) is a minor political party formed in 1991, after the fall of Communism, under the name of the Romanian Humanist Party (Partidul Umanist Român, PUR). From 2005 until December 3, 2006,[1] the party was a junior member of the ruling coalition. The party took its present name, Conservative Party, on May 7, 2005.
The current Conservative Party promotes tradition, family, social solidarity, European integration, and a nationalism without chauvinism. It claims the heritage of the former historical Romanian Conservative Party, one of the two main political forces in Romania before the First World War. There is no direct, uninterrupted link between the two parties—the historical Conservative Party was dissolved after World War I—but the current party sustains and embraces the values of the historical one.
In 2005, the party organized a march "for family values" as a reaction to the Bucharest GayFest pride parade. The party is opposed to the legalisation of same-sex marriage, even though Octavian Petrovici, the vice-president of the party's Bucharest division, stated that the party "respects the choice" of same-sex couples.[2]
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[edit] History
The Conservative Party was founded as the Romanian Humanist Party (PUR) on December 18, 1991. It changed its name in 2005 to reflect a shift in its ideology from centrist politics to more conservative, right-wing politics. The party is currently led by Dan Voiculescu, a businessman who gave up the leadership of some his companies to his relatives in order to embark upon the political construction. Voiculescu created and owns an important media chain comprising among others top-ranking TV channel Antena 1 and the newspapers Jurnalul Naţional and Gazeta Sporturilor. According to CNA (the state agency for broadcast licencing), he retains significant influence in the Romanian mass-media, either through his foundation or through his family [1].
The party supports the interests of the middle class and especially those of small and middle-size business owners. The PUR formed a coalition with the PDSR (now PSD), which won the 2000 elections. The PUR took part in the government under the condition of having the opportunity to promote the interests of its electorate. A Ministry for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises was thus formed, under the leadership of a PUR representative. After two years, the senior partner of the coalition, the PDSR, decided to suppress this Ministry, and consequently the PUR, no longer being able to represent its electorate, withdrew from the government.
In the local elections of June 2004, the PUR obtained 6% of the votes and, among others, managed to win in one important city, Bacău. During this election, the party strongly attacked the PSD and its alleged system of "local barons". After the surprising alliance of PUR with PSD, Romeo Stavarache, the mayor of Bacău, switched to the Liberals, saying that he finds impossible to cooperate with the "local barons" he struggled to defeat [2].
In the parliamentary elections of November 2004 the PUR formed again an electoral alliance with the Social-Democrat PSD party. This was a surprising move, after strongly attacking PSD in the June partial elections. The elections gave a slight parliamentary majority to the PSD-PUR coalition, while the new president Traian Băsescu came from the other major competing coalition, the DA (Justice and Truth), formed by the PD party and the National Liberal Party. This situation threatened a major political crisis, the President being unwilling to appoint a prime minister from the winning coalition, and the DA candidate for prime minister liable not to be ratified by the Parliament, which would have resulted in new parliamentary elections.
Although initial talks assured the support of PUR for the Justice and Truth, without them joining the government, the election of PSD members Adrian Năstase and Nicolae Văcăroiu as Heads of Chambers in the Romanian Parliament, prompted the members of DA to invite PUR to join the government. Although he had been the main advocate of this solution and had strongly pleaded for it, president Băsescu later qualified the solution as "immoral". In return, the conservatives labelled the President as a "hypocrite".[3] , [4].
The Conservative Party's president, Dan Voiculescu, has admitted having been a collaborator with the Securitate, Romania's communist-era internal intelligence service, after information to this effect was released publicly by Romania's National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives.[3]. He was initially named to be a Vice Premier in the government of Prime Minister of Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu but was ultimately not allowed to take the position because of his involvement with the former intelligence service.[4][5].
On May 7, 2005 the party took its present name as the Conservative Party, after a change of doctrine from social liberalism to a more conservative stance, however, their doctrine is still unclear, as, for example, support leftist doctrines, such as increasing taxes for companies.
On December 3, 2006, the party quit the governing coalition and went into opposition.
[edit] Notable members
- Dan Voiculescu - founder and president
- Codruţ Şereş
- Gheorghe Copos
[edit] Notes
- ^ (Romanian) Partidul Conservator s-a retras de la guvernare, party site, December 3, 2006. They left the coalition citing lack of support for their legislative projects by their coalition partners ("…lipsa sprijinului partenerilor de coaliţie pentru proiectele legislative ale PC").
- ^ (Romanian) Familia Florin şi Raul nu primeşte credit cu buletinul, Cotidianul, 6 June 2006
- ^ Cold War specter lingers in Eastern Europe, International Herald Tribune, December 12, 2006
- ^ Secret service revelations claim senior coalition figures, The Diplomat Bucharest, September 2006
- ^ (Romanian) Dan Voiculescu şi fosta Securitate, "Dan Voiculescu and the former Securitate", BBC News, June 16, 2006
[edit] External links
- Conservative Party official site
- (Romanian) Evenimentul Zilei article on PUR
