PSD interim chair Ciolacu: We will organise a PSD congress by February 29

The interim chair of the PSD (Social Democratic Party), Marcel Ciolacu, stated at the end of the National Executive Committee meeting of this party, on Wednesday evening, that Niculae Badalau was not expelled from the party and no one will be expelled as long as he is interim chair. The leader of PSD Giurgiu was sanctioned instead by being deprived of all his positions held at the central level of the party. 

"The current leadership is an interim one. We have a very clear goal and mandate from our colleagues to organise a congress in February. We also have a proposed date for this congress, February 29. We will see what will be the form of the congress, extraordinary or ordinary, the vast majority being for an ordinary congress. We, the interim team, will do our job, to have a transparent and fair congress. It's the mandate we received, the mandate that I will carry out throughout this period," said Ciolacu. 

Asked if he will run for congress, Marcel Ciolacu said: "My mandate, at this moment, is to organise the Congress, at the latest on February 29, a fair and transparent congress, as all the PSD congresses were. As soon as I will be sure that I've organised everything, I will make a decision regarding my candidacy," said the interim leader of the party. 

He added that "the big challenge was to make this transition as democratic and fair as possible between the old [leadership - editor's note] and the interim leadership". 

"We also designed two departments that seemed to me the most important: the Department of International Relations and the Department of Communication (...), following on Monday to also work on the Department for the Diaspora and the Department for the Relation with Trade Unions," said Ciolacu.