The Emperor of empty words

Rarely do we get to see a politician’s hollowness in all its glory. President Klaus Iohannis gave us this opportunity on Tuesday, during the pompous event entitled „International Conference on Women Parliamentarians in Romania and the Promotion of Gender Equality as a National Commitment”.

Listen in again to this monarch of nothingness, the king of indolence, the emperor of empty words, speaking from the rostrum of Parliament about the promotion of women in politics:
„I have confidently granted High Patronage to this Conference because I am a strong advocate of gender equality and I believe that we have an obligation to accelerate measures for the further promotion of women in key positions in all fields, but especially in politics. Since the beginning of my first term as President, I have clearly and loudly stated, on every occasion, that Romania must take on public policies that ensure equality between women and men”.

Until recently, there was only one woman in the Ciucă government: Gabriela Firea, from the PSD. The president’s party, PNL, has not promoted a single woman in the Ciucă government. It was only after Câmpeanu’s resignation that the Liberal team of ministers was completed with Ligia Deca. But she is not a member of the PNL.

What prevented the strong advocate of gender equality from saying, stop, I will not accept a government in which the Liberals have not appointed a single woman! It was within his power to do so, but he hasn’t lifted a finger, even though he has appointed as many as three Liberal prime ministers. Let’s take it one step further.

Open the PNL website: at the top of the PNL leadership, surprise: no women. One male president, four other male first vice-presidents. Only in the lower echelon of the party do we find, among the 29 (twenty-nine) vice-presidents, three (three) women. Klaus Iohannis has personally managed all the internal elections in the PNL, careful to install his favorite puppets as leaders. How come he didn’t care about women? What stopped him from „stating loud and clear” at the PNL congresses that women’s representation at the top of the party is deficient and encouraging liberals to break out of this political patriarchy?

Of course these are rhetorical questions. The President could have done a lot, he just didn’t. Apart from his own comfort, he has never cared about anything, not the party, not gender equality, not the country. This is what his two terms at the Cotroceni look like so far: complete nothingness, absolute emptiness, a sublime void filled with artful poses, slogans and snorting speeches recited by an untalented actor. As president, he can boast, however, that he has signed the decree appointing the first woman prime minister of Romania: Viorica Dăncilă. Or is it better not to?

You may ask, what was the point of the parliamentary mockery in this case? Why did the bald man put his own hand on his head? President Iohannis simply hijacked the visit of the President of the Republic of Moldova to Bucharest, Maia Sandu, in order to stage an event designed to glorify him, to profile himself once again as a great and truly European leader. The children’s choir, the monarchic atmosphere, the pomp of the event, were all in the Emperor’s honor.

Infinitely more European and full of substance was Maia Sandu, a female president, elected in a country where until recently polls showed that voters did not believe in female politicians. Her government is headed by a woman, the parliament in Chisinau is said to be 40% female and 22% of Moldova’s elected mayors are women. To a standing ovation in parliament, Maia Sandu eclipsed Klaus Iohannis. We have all seen a great man but a small president overshadowed by a small woman but a great president.

After eight years in office, Klaus Iohannis leaves behind mountains of sawdust, lakes of sterile, rivers of empty words. He won both his mandates with anti-corruption and pro-justice rhetoric. Towards the end of his mandate, even Victor Ponta was astonished to note that what he and Dragnea failed to do with the justice system, Iohannis has completed: the paralysis of the entire system. How and why it came to this we can analyze endlessly, but this is the result. Romania today has a dysfunctional justice system, which threatens to completely grind to a halt as a result of the governments’ inaction in recent years.

There is not much left of the anti-corruption fight. The president’s best friend won a single-bid tender organized by the Interior Ministry for the purchase of 600 BMWs, Klaus Iohannis’ favorite car since he was mayor of Sibiu and the local face of the car dealer.
The country has already become a haven for criminals big and small, for the corrupt and organized crime. Dozens and hundreds of criminal cases are at risk of being closed because the Government and Parliament did not correct the criminal legislation in time after a CCR decision four years ago that practically abolished the special statute of limitations.

Another example of presidential phraseology without factual backing: educated Romania. There is almost no point in discussing the content of the great presidential project since we are debating today whether or not 2% plagiarism counts in the case of the Minister of the Interior. Klaus Iohannis proclaimed „zero tolerance towards plagiarism” after the resignation of Sorin Câmpeanu from the Ministry of Education, also following accusations of plagiarism. How is „zero tolerance” manifested since the analysis of other important cases of plagiarism is institutionally blocked? See the case of Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă and the President of the High Court, Corina Corbu, both of whom are supported by President Klaus Iohannis.

The examples could go on and on. Counter-selection in his governments has reached its peak. Perhaps it would be good to remember again the promise with which President Klaus Iohannis mobilized his voters in the 2020 parliamentary election campaign: „On 6 December, the expulsion of the PSD from the buttons of power can finally be definitive. It is time that, united, the citizens of this nation and the reforming political forces, together with me, enter a new stage of development of our country. It is time to build a normal Romania”.

More empty words, another imposture masked in big words that he did not believe in for a moment. From „definitive expulsion”, it has finally become „governmental rotation”. Today the PSD rules Romania in force, even if it has no prime minister, but it dictates government policy in almost every important area.

And maybe even that wouldn’t be the greatest tragedy, but by totally lacking vision, by destroying the PNL leadership, Klaus Iohannis has aligned all the stars for the PSD to win almost everything in 2024, including the presidency. Not only has he failed to permanently remove the PSD from the buttons of power, but he has also paved the way for them to take all the power in just two years.

Under Klaus Iohannis Romania looks like a frozen screen, a frozen country, over which a deafening silence has fallen. The press under this press-appalled president has been bought and silenced. Cristian Pantazi has written extensively about the metastasis of the press.

The Iliescian nothingness has returned after 30 years in the guise of an Emperor of empty talk for whom the only reason to get out of bed is a round of golf in the kingdom of Pianu.

Translated articles