OPINION Rotating government, PSD's joy

According to several political sources quoted by the media, the PNL, UDMR and USR accepted yesterday, according to several political sources quoted by the media, the idea of a rotating government that PSD has supported since the beginning of the political negotiations at Cotroceni Palace regarding the future government program and the composition of the new team at Victoria Palace. The acceptance of the rotating government solution, concluded in these days under the pressure of an interim that is about to expire, does not mark a victory of the democratic consensus, but one of the skillful political blackmail orchestrated by PSD. Under the guise of an understanding between the pro-Western parties, what has happened in the last three weeks is a tough game of force, in which the social democrats have obtained what they wanted from the very beginning: control over the succession to the government, without paying the price of unpopular measures.

The truth is simple and cynical: the PSD refused to immediately enter the government and blocked negotiations until the other parties - PNL, USR and UDMR - accepted the idea of a rotation of the prime minister's position, just like in the Ciucă-Ciolacu episode. Only this time, the context is much more tense: the budget deficit is getting out of control, the European Commission is demanding reforms and reducing budget spending, and the population is expecting solutions, not partisan calculations.

In this landscape, imposing a rotating government becomes a strategy to avoid responsibility. The PNL, under pressure, disorganized and lacking real authoritarian leaders, was pushed to accept a formula that obliges it to govern in the first stage and to assume the cuts in budget spending and administrative personnel and austerity. The PSD, in shelter, is washing its hands and preparing to return to the top of the Executive only in a year and a half, at a time that is probably calmer from an electoral point of view and more politically convenient.

The expected appointment, today or tomorrow, by President Nicuşor Dan, of Ilie Bolojan as the future prime minister seems, on the surface, an efficient, rational choice. In reality, this is also part of the PSD scenario. Bolojan, a man with a solid administrative reputation, is preferred by the social democrats precisely because he has the ideal profile of a "sacrificial” prime minister: capable of taking tough measures, but lacking solid political support and without a loyal majority behind him. The liberals, left to implement unpopular reforms, will become the perfect lightning rod for the social frustrations of the coming months.

And in the meantime, the PSD plays the card of selective responsibility. It declares itself concerned about pensions and low incomes, but avoids taking on key ministries now. It complains about the deficit, but refuses to assume the necessary fiscal measures. At the same time, it demands more ministries, including that of Transport, which is one with strategic stakes and significant resources, a sign that the real interest is not stability, but maintaining influence.

It is, in essence, a repetition of the shadow power model with which the PSD has operated in other times. Not frontally, but through pressure. Not with assumption, but with cold calculation. And, above all, with a permanent care not to lose a single millimeter of political control, even if that means blocking negotiations for weeks in the midst of a crisis.

For the average citizen, the rotating government means nothing more than the continuity of a divided government, unstable and incapable of clearly assuming its path. Instead of a firm and coherent political direction, we once again have a breakdown solution negotiated behind the scenes.

We are not advocating against political compromise, which is essential in any functioning democracy, but we are critical of a manner that puts party interests above the public interest and turns governance into a short-term transaction. Instead of courageous reforms, we will have a virtually temporary prime minister. Instead of responsibility, we will have rotation. Instead of responsibility, we will have a new chapter in a chronicle of unstable equilibrium.

Romania deserved something else.