PSD's Ciolacu: Iohannis is a politician with dictatorial accents, who must always be right

Interim Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Marcel Ciolacu argued on Thursday that President Klaus Iohannis showed he is a politician "with dictatorial accents," "who must always be right" and who "attacks" fundamental institutions of the state, such as Parliament and the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR), "weakening democracy."

"In the past two months, I have seen the biggest change in a politician in Romania. From a president who was asking the PSD to vote for his Orban Government, to a politician consumed by hatred, confused and with obviously extremist accents. Today, Iohannis has shown us once again that he is only the PNL [the National Liberal Party] chairman, he no longer behaves like a president of Romania. The latest public appearances have shown us that he has gone astray. Iohannis should have been the guarantor of the Constitution, but he is constantly attacking fundamental institutions of the state such as Parliament and the Constitutional Court. In doing so, Iohannis is weakening democracy and paving the way for a past we wanted to forget," Ciolacu stated in a press statement held at the PSD headquarters.

He added that President Iohannis "is not an institutional partner." "He is just another politician from the PNL who preferred a warm place at the Cotroceni, although in the past which he criticises, he wanted to be the Prime Minister brought by the hand of the PSD. We have been waiting for two months from Iohannis and the Government he leads for a program to relaunch economy. We have over one million unemployed, most people have money to survive for only one month," the leader of the Social-Democrats said.

According to Ciolacu, the population is not tested for the novel coronavirus infection, "companies are closing every day, throwing hundreds of thousands of people into unemployment."

"The Government is no longer credible and can no longer borrow. The Government will soon run out of money for wages and pensions. Moreover, the PNL and the Government are using the pandemic to steal through their regular companies. Although Romanians face these problems every day, Iohannis doesn't talk about a project to relaunch economy. I haven't heard anything about it tonight either. Not a word. He only talks about the PSD. At every appearance, we see only an outpouring of hatred and mockery towards the Romanians who are waiting for solutions for what they put on their table tomorrow, for their jobs, for their families, for their health. We see a president desperate to defend an incompetent and incapable Government to come up with a project to protect Romanians' incomes. Romania is confronted with a pandemic and a severe economic crisis. The PNL has been in power for six months. The PSD is in the Opposition. Stop blaming others. You have all the power. Rule, take measures for Romanians," the PSD interim chairman conveyed.

President Klaus Iohannis has stated on Thursday that the Social Democratic Party (PSD) worked in Parliament "a lot and badly, downright toxic." According to the President, the PSD "remained the same party concerned only to save its barons."