Sever Voinescu - Biography - People's Movement Projects and 2012 Riots

People's Movement Projects and 2012 Riots

Speaking in September 2011, Voinescu dismissed criticism of the PDL coming from outgoing Labor Minister Sebastian Lăzăroiu, an independent politician. When asked to reply about Lăzăroiu's alternative proposals that the PDL transform itself into a "People's Movement" or perish, Voinescu stated his amusement, and noted: "I never did preoccupy myself with Mr. Lăzăroiu's prophecies." Confronted with speculation that the People's Movement project would attract into its ranks rogue members of the PNL who opposed the PSD alliance, Voinescu replied (in English): "Too soon to tell!"

Voinescu later returned with more explicit remarks, clarifying that the Movement was a sound project, which could help coagulate the Romanian right. He was also directing criticism toward the PDL's partner in government, the nominally left-wing National Union for the Progress of Romania, arguing that it could not expect to be included in the emerging party: "rest assured, nobody asked you in." In public statements, Voinescu ridiculed the political aspirations of OTV owner Dan Diaconescu and his own People's Party, viewing them as demagogic; he rejected suggestions of an alliance between Diaconescu and the PDL. When Lăzăroiu and Mihail Neamţu launched their own platform, Noua Republică, Voinescu admitted that it could win over a sizable portion of the PDL electorate.

In October 2011, Voinescu was head of the Romanian delegation at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly meeting, held in Bucharest. In this capacity, he signed the protocol which gave Romanian support for Georgia's Euro-Atlantic integration, and expressed the official viewpoint that Russia had no reason to fear the national missile defense developed in Eastern Europe.

As PDL spokesman, Voinescu tackled the spontaneous anti-government protests of January 2012. He suggested that there was "much to learn" for his party from the street reaction to the ongoing austerity measures, while also accusing the coalesced opposition, or Social Liberal Union (USL), of trying to capitalize on these events: "I'm not sure if those gathering in the square would want USL to win the elections." He and the party initially rallied behind Premier Boc: Voinescu expressed the viewpoint that popular indignation was not solely aimed at the PDL administration, but at the entire ruling class, and argued that the street demands for early elections were impractical. On February 6, however, he acknowledged Boc's resignation, calling it proof of political responsibility; he also favored continuity in matters of economic policy. During the demonstrations, anti-Voinescu slogans were specifically chanted by the 100 demonstrators gathering in his constituency of Ploieşti.