Politicians agree to stop insults
Romania’s prime minister and president have agreed to set aside their bitter rivalry for the good of the country and to stop insulting each other.
Prime minister Victor Ponta said he and president Traian Basescu signed an agreement to co-operate last week after Ponta’s centre-left alliance won 68% of seats in December 9 parliamentary elections.
Basescu’s office said the president had handed the seven-point agreement outlining “institutional collaboration” between the prime minister and the president to European Union leaders last week during a trip to Brussels.
The enmity between the two men had poisoned the political atmosphere in Romania for months and EU leaders had voiced concern there could be more political feuding after the elections.
Before the election, Basescu had said he would be reluctant to reappoint Ponta, calling him “a pig” and “a compulsive liar.” However, Basescu relented and asked Ponta on Monday to form a new government.
The Mediafax news agency quoted Ponta as saying “we won’t call each other names and we won’t use comparisons to the animal kingdom”.
In the agreement, Ponta and Basescu pledge to sanction politicians “for going beyond the rules of good behaviour, good manners, decency and politeness,” adding that politicians will avoid “tough expressions, attacks of any kind”.
