The king of sleep and his hidden dream

What could an uncrowned King of Sleep want in his last year of reign? Peace among his subjects and, as the reign can no longer be renewed, a new, possibly larger kingdom.

It is the dream of this monarch about whom no one really knows what he thinks in his long periods of silence or what he means by his monosyllabic answers.

With all his German descent and imperial gloom, the Byzantine king cannot be imagined in the last two years at the Cotroceni Palace other than sleeping with a self-satisfied smile on his lips over a country in agony.

The only reason to get out of bed from time to time is for himself.

As the Sun King wrote on the walls of the palace at Versailles, „Le Roi gouverne par lui-même”, nor does the King of Sleep need anything else to govern than the opportunity to turn over on his other side.

Anyone wondering what President Klaus Iohannis will do in May at the rotary, whether or not he will make Marcel Ciolacu prime minister, will have to start from the above premise.

All information and signals from the parties indicate that he will not act like an active head of state, will not try any risky political game for his own peace of mind, but will act like a monarch bored with having to install the fourth PSD premier by his own hand, after Grindeanu, Tudose and Dancila.

You remember, of course, the famous anti PeSeDeee outbursts during the campaign, heated and ironic. Well, Klaus Iohannis has put in three from the PSD and is preparing for a fourth. Of, here, maybe and that extended PeSeDeee, with three of’s at the end. Maybe you’ve lost track.

With his proverbial horror of political hullabaloo, crisis and rumpus, the King of Sleep will most likely appoint Marcel Ciolacu as PM in May, June, July or September, when the two-party leaders decide it’s best for them to rotate. But he will appoint him.

In the name of political stability, Klaus Iohannis will most likely want quiet until 2024. Until then, his only really important goal is to negotiate an important position for himself in Brussels, such as president of the European Council.

A higher throne. Several kingdoms in one place and he, their uncrowned king, with no power, no powers, lots of travel on his Globe Trotter agenda and solemn pictures in his job description. The perfect throne. A well-deserved prize after ten years of nothing.

To get there he might even need the support of the Socialists, the political family to which Ciolacu’s PSD belongs. Apart from reminding him who the King really is, a little annoyed that he’s still blowing on his plate, why should he bother to respond more tactfully to all the stings of late? What’s the point?

All the important European jobs in Brussels, directors-general in the Commission, the Committee of the Regions or other committees and commissions to which various Romanian politicians who need the President’s support aspire are put on hold so as not to jeopardies his chances of acceding to the throne.

Everything for him, nothing for the country.

Normally, the PNL should leave the government no later than May, when Prime Minister Ciucă’s term ends, change him from the party leadership and try to form the anti-PSD alliance with USR, PMP and whoever else is around.

It is the only rational solution that could save the Liberals from disappearing into the black hole called PSD.

Otherwise, every day spent by the liberals led by Ciucă, eventually made vice-premier or defense minister in a government led by Ciolacu, means certain collapse in the polls.

Ciolacu will be careful to steal as many mayors as possible from the Liberals by then and eventually help Ciucă to be nominated as presidential candidate from the position of prime minister.

He, the dead army general, is the guarantee that the Liberals won’t get into the second round and that Ciolacu can dream of a PSD-AUR final that would take him out as president.

If the anti-PSD alliance project is postponed until the May 2024 Europarliamentary elections, when the Liberals will score predictably poorly under catastrophic leadership, it may be too late. Who to ally? A PNL down in the polls below its share of fortunes and a disheartened USR? Alongside them will be AUR, well inflated in the polls including with the help of Ciolacu&friends.

If the anti-PSD alliance is made after next year’s Europarliamentary elections, it risks being an alliance of losers, a desperate union of parties going to their heads.

Even though he has a shaky position in the party, Marcel Ciolacu has shown enough political skill not to be underestimated.

Once in office he will rule the country in force, with generous electoral bonuses. He will line up all the already bought press, run the country with populism, progressive taxation, taxes on big business and, pay attention, run the elections.

The PSD leader will not hesitate to focus his entire campaign against Klaus Iohannis and proclaim the political death of the King. Having fallen into irrelevance, Iohannis won’t have any cartridges left in the barrel once he appoints Ciolacu as Prime Minister.

This will be his last major move from the position of all-powerful king, after which the establishment, including the liberals, will desert him and disown him.

Let no one be under any illusions: the PSD will come up with a purely electoral government programme, dedicated to winning the European parliamentary, local, general and presidential elections.

This is the first time all the planets have aligned for the PSD: there is a good chance it will seize all the power in the state. Ciolacu knows this and will ruthlessly play the card of his life.

Will Iohannis want to end his reign by installing four PSD premiers? Will he be able to sleep when he sees how he has turned the PNL into dust and powder and left a country in the hands of Ciolacu&friends?

If he scores his dream job in Brussels, then he will simply do what we already know: with a smile of self-congratulation on his lips, he will turn the other way.