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The Conservative Party of Romania (Romanian: Partidul Conservator) is a political party formed in 1991, after the fall of Communism, under the name of the Romanian Humanist Party (Partidul Umanist Român, PUR). From 2005 until December 3, 2006,[1] the party was a junior member of the ruling coalition. The party took its present name, Conservative Party, on May 7, 2005.
The current Conservative Party states it promotes tradition, family, social solidarity, European integration, and a nationalism without chauvinism. It claims the heritage of the former historical Romanian Conservative Party, one of the two main political forces in Romania before the First World War. There is no direct, uninterrupted link between the two parties — the historical Conservative Party was dissolved after World War I — but the current party sustains and embraces the values of the historical one.
In 2005, the party organized a march "for family values" as a reaction to the Bucharest GayFest pride parade. The party is opposed to the legalisation of same-sex marriage, even though Octavian Petrovici, the vice-president of the party's Bucharest division, stated that the party "respects the choice" of same-sex couples.[2]
The party also supports the introduction of compulsory religious education in Romanian schools (currently, such classes are optional).[3]
History
The Conservative Party was founded as the Romanian Humanist Party (PUR) on December 18, 1991. It changed its name in 2005 to reflect a shift in its ideology from centrist politics to more conservative, right-wing politics. The party was founded and continues to be led by Dan Voiculescu, a businessman who formally gave control of his companies to relatives. Voiculescu is the founder and former owner of an important media chain comprising among others the top-ranking TV channel Antena 1 and the newspapers Jurnalul National and Gazeta Sporturilor. According to CNA (the state agency for broadcast licencing), he retains significant influence in the Romanian mass-media, either through his foundation or through his family. [1]
The party generally supports the interests of the middle class and especially those of small and middle-size business owners, and has performed better electorally at a local level than at a national level. The PUR formed a coalition with the PDSR (now PSD), which won the 2000 elections. The PUR took part in the government under the condition of having the opportunity to promote the interests of its electorate. A Ministry for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises was thus formed, under the leadership of a PUR representative. After two years, the senior partner of the coalition, the PDSR, decided to suppress this Ministry, and consequently the PUR, no longer being able to represent its electorate, withdrew from the government.
In the local elections of June 2004, the PUR obtained 6% of the votes and, among others, managed to win in one important city, Bacau. During this election, the party strongly attacked the PSD and its alleged system of "local barons". After the surprising alliance of PUR with PSD, Romeo Stavarache, the mayor of Bacau, switched to the Liberals after a disagreement with Voiculescu, saying that he found it impossible to cooperate with the "local barons" he had struggled to defeat. [2]
In the parliamentary elections of November 2004 the PUR again formed an electoral alliance with the social-democratic PSD party. This was a surprising move, as the PUR had strongly attacked the PSD in the June local elections. However, it ensured that the PUR would be able to enter the parliament on the coattails of the much larger party. The elections gave a slight parliamentary plurality to the PSD-PUR coalition, while the new president Traian Basescu came from the other major competing coalition, the DA (Justice and Truth), formed by the PD party and the National Liberal Party. This situation threatened a major political crisis, the President being unwilling to appoint a prime minister from the slightly larger parliamentary bloc, and the DA candidate for prime minister liable not to be ratified by the Parliament, which would have resulted in new parliamentary elections.
Although initial talks assured the support of PUR for the Justice and Truth, without them joining the government, the election of PSD members Adrian Nastase and Nicolae Vacaroiu as Heads of Chambers in the Romanian Parliament, prompted the members of DA to invite PUR to join the government. Although he had been the main advocate of this solution and had strongly pleaded for it, president Basescu later qualified the solution as "immoral". In return, the conservatives labelled the President as a "hypocrite". [3] [4]
Voiculescu has admitted having been a collaborator with the Securitate, Romania's communist-era internal intelligence service, after information to this effect was released publicly by Romania's National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives. He has actively denied that his collaboration was harmful to any individual.[4] He was initially named to be a Vice Premier in the government of Prime Minister of Calin Popescu-Tariceanu but was ultimately not allowed to take the position because of his involvement with the former intelligence service.[5][6]
On May 7, 2005 the party took its present name as the Conservative Party, after a change of doctrine from social liberalism to a more conservative stance. However, its doctrine is still unclear, since it supports certain leftist doctrines, such as increasing taxes for companies.
On December 3, 2006, the party quit the governing coalition and went into opposition. It currently polls at less than three per cent in opinion polls, and is unlikely to enter parliament in 2008's general election unless it enters into another pact with either the PSD (considered unlikely) or the PNL.
On 17 April 2008, the Social Democratic Party and the Conservative Party announced they would form a political alliance for the 2008 local elections.[7]
In the Romanian legislative election, 2008, the Conservative Party also took part in an alliance with PSD.
Symbol
PC logo until January 2008
Notable members
Notes
- ^ (Romanian) Partidul Conservator s-a retras de la guvernare, party site, December 3, 2006. They left the coalition citing lack of support for their legislative projects by their coalition partners ("…lipsa sprijinului partenerilor de coalitie pentru proiectele legislative ale PC").
- ^ (Romanian) Familia Florin si Raul nu primeste credit cu buletinul, Cotidianul, June 6, 2006.
- ^ (Romanian) Tinerii conservatori au format un lant uman pentru promovarea religiei în scoli, Adevarul, February 24, 2008.
- ^ Cold War specter lingers in Eastern Europe, International Herald Tribune, December 12, 2006.
- ^ Secret service revelations claim senior coalition figures, The Diplomat - Bucharest, September 2006.
- ^ (Romanian) Dan Voiculescu si fosta Securitate, "Dan Voiculescu and the former Securitate", BBC News, June 16, 2006.
- ^ Romania's PSD and PC form alliance (SETimes.com)
External links
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