Et tu, Viorica?

On Wednesday, following proof of a working PSD-ALDE majority in Parliament, PSD leader Liviu Dragnea gave Prime Minister Dăncilă an ultimatum: either a government restructuration after the holidays, or 45 days with interim ministers. On a rather curt tone, Dragnea told journalists that on Monday, coalition leaders voted for a restructuration, while the Prime Minister’s decision on this matter is slow to come. This is a first confirmation that Dragnea and Dancila do not see eye to eye on the subject. Without her, the government restructuration cannot happen.

According to Law 90/2001 on the organization and functioning of the Government, Article 37 provides as follows: „The Prime Minister may ask the Parliament to modify the structure of the Government by establishing, abolishing, dividing or merging some ministries, as the case may be „. In other words, Prime Minister Dăncilă has the final say on a possible restructuration of the government.

What is going on? How does someone like Viorica Dăncilă, a monument of obedience, the embodiment of meekness and a perfect stooge, break the chain of subservience? For many, it is difficult, if not impossible, to believe that Viorica Dancila is able to confront her master at all, let alone on such an important subject.

Both the information gathered by G4Media and the PSD leader’s public reaction show that the difference in approach to the restructuration issue is real. Despite Dragnea’s insistence, Prime Minister Dăncilă has repeatedly refused to send a new government structure to Parliament, which would circumvent the need for President Klaus Iohannis’ approval on the appointment of new ministers.

In other words, the justice system is still the PSD leader’s main concern, as he is still struggling, just as in 2017, to get an emergency decree out. Things have not moved an inch in this matter. Because they did not deliver on this issue, Premier Grindeanu and Tudose, and now Tudorel Toader, justice minister, were given the boot.

Why does Dragnea insist on imposing a person like Eugen Nicolicea at the helm of the justice ministry and why does Dăncilă not agree with the decree?

Incompetent and aggressive, Nicolicea has no restraint and no scruples. Once anointed as Minister of Justice, everyone expects him to initiate the miracle of the emergency decree. They got burnt with Tudorel Toader, the smokescreen master, but, surely, they could not make a mistake with Nicolicea, the friend of thugs.

Why is Dragnea not content with the amendments to the penal Codes voted on Wednesday in Parliament? Why is there a need to push through with an emergency decree?

Even though the parliamentary procedure by which the Codes were slaughtered seems to have been concluded, the entry into force of the new rules may be dangerously extended, as compared to the running time until a sentence is pronounced in the fictitious employment case. The trial has almost reached its end at the High Court, and, as of May 20, Dragnea risks receiving a new conviction.

The opposition has already announced that it would appeal the amendments to the Codes at the Constitutional Court, even though the PSD-ALDE-UDMR majority has limited itself to include those already declared constitutional.

This means a new term in Court, and precious time lost. The amendments to the Codes then reach Cotroceni for promulgation, but the president may also ask for a re-examination of the bill. Another delay.

An emergency decree is still safer and more efficient.

Why is Dăncilă avoiding it? Very likely because she is unwilling to remain in history as „the author of the crime,” the prime minister who blew justice to pieces for one man, legalized corruption, and turned the country into a thugs’ Disneyland. Unlike many party leaders, Dăncilă does not have criminal problems. Why would she pay the bill of iniquity on behalf of others?

Missing any political ambitions, horrified at the prospect of being reduced to zero after evacuation from the government, Dăncilă is not fighting Dragnea. No, that’s not what she does against the individual who put his straw man in the Government.

An act of rebellion against the PSD leader would be too much for her. Dăncilă defends herself out of a conservation instinct. That’s all: a very human reaction. We are in the presence of a paralyzed, fearful person with vague glimmers of a conscience. As a prime minister, she fears the prosecutors’ reactions, her Videle neighbors’ opinion, and what people and her family might say, realizing that she will not only be mocked as before, but also detested by a whole country.

As they come, “every man is afraid of this”.

Even Ana Birchall, the Ministry of Justice nominated “courtier”, educated abroad and mindful of her reputation, is not likely to become a peddler ready to die for the PSD mobsters. As long as the emergency decree project does not reach the PM with all the necessary approvals, Viorica Dăncilă is more likely to nix this option.

In fact, she has publicly stated that she agreed with the idea of an emergency decree, provided it came from the Ministry of Justice. We’ll see for how long the premier will withstand the infernal pressures exerted by Liviu Dragnea and the PSD barons. Until we get an answer, the lider maximo will keep looking into her eyes and shout in her face: Et tu, Viorica?

Traducerea: Ruxandra Stoicescu

NOTĂ Titlul este o parafrază după celebra replică ”Et tu, Brute?”, o expresie în latină, care se traduce ca „și tu, Brutus?”. În piesa Iulius Cezar de William Shakespeare, replica este adresată de Iulius Cezar prietenului său Marcus Junius Brutus, în momentul asasinării dictatorului roman.