Minister's sacking discredits Băsescu

Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc sacked his foreign minister Teodor Baconschi on Monday after Baconschi described the demonstrators on his blog a week ago as "a nation made dumb by watching television" among other things. The daily Gândul criticises the dismissal and suspects that President Traian Băsescu is behind the move: "Băsescu must have thought that sacrificing Baconschi would calm the people on the street. He rang up Boc to order him to fire Baconschi while the latter was meeting with his colleagues in Brussels. Once against Băsescu has mocked Romania simply because he felt like it. ... No one is interested in Baconschi's dismissal. It simply shows once more that Băsescu can do whatever he likes with the [ruling] PDL party. Sooner or later this year this will lead to a catastrophic defeat for the PDL, which may not even be able to get into parliament. This is worrying and dangerous - not just for the PDL. The downfall of a major party leaves behind a political vacuum that can be filled by all kinds of radical forces."

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