Veștea attacks PNL leadership, accuses Bolojan of power grab and blocking government

Adrian Veștea, the designated prime minister and candidate for the PNL party leadership, launched a strong attack against the current party leadership on Friday evening. He accused them of organizing an extraordinary congress on an emergency basis and pushing through statutory changes proposed by liberal leader Ilie Bolojan, which he believes endanger fundamental liberal values.

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The main value of liberalism is freedom. That's where the name of our political formation comes from. All the more it saddens me that today, at the proposal of the party president, freedom and, implicitly, democratic debate risk disappearing in PNL.

In a Facebook post following a PNL National Council meeting, Veștea stated that the party is experiencing "a difficult day." He expressed deep concern that "freedom and, implicitly, democratic debate risk disappearing in PNL" under the current leadership's proposals. Veștea specifically criticized the decision to hold the extraordinary congress on June 21, rather than the initially planned date of June 28, arguing that the rushed timeline prevents genuine debate among candidates and could harm the party's identity.

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Instead of accepting an open confrontation of ideas and solutions, within a Congress at the end of next week (June 28), an hasty organization of a Congress on Sunday, June 21, is being attempted. Everything in a rush and without the necessary time for real debate.

Veștea alleges that the proposed statutory modifications serve two primary objectives: consolidating power around Ilie Bolojan and blocking the investiture of the new government. He contends that these new provisions would grant the current liberal leader unprecedented influence within the party, a concentration of power he believes is historically unparalleled. "I think responsibility should be shared, not gathered in one place," Veștea declared, noting this has not been the case even in the party's post-communist or pre-World War II history.

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I think responsibility should be shared, not gathered in one place, as has not happened in the party's history, neither in the post-communist period, nor before the Second World War.

Furthermore, Veștea believes the current leadership is attempting to impede the formation of the executive branch he was tasked with forming by the Romanian president. He stressed the need for political stability to finalize crucial objectives like the PNRR, SAFE, and OECD accession. Veștea explicitly stated that the statute is being modified "for two people": to consolidate Bolojan's position and to exclude him from the party for accepting the role of prime minister-designate during a crisis. He accused the PNL leadership of aiming to transform the party into a political tool against the head of state.

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Practically, the party statute is intended to be modified for two people: a concentration of power for Mr. Bolojan and, for me, an exclusion because I accepted to be part of a solution to end a crisis that profoundly affects Romanians.