Partidul Democrat Liberal

Partidul Democrat Liberal
Party leader	Vasile Blaga
Emergence	Merger of Partidul Democrat and Partidul Liberal Democrat
founding	December 15, 2007
fusion	November 17, 2014 (incorporated in: Partidul Național Liberal )
Headquarters	Bucharest
Alignment	Christian-democratic, liberal-conservative
International connections	Christian Democratic International
European party	EPP
EP Group	EPP Group

The Partidul Democrat Liberal ( PD-L ; "Democratic Liberal Party") was a center-right party in Romania , which existed from 2007 to 2014.

founding

She PD-L was founded in December 2007. The Partidul Democrat (PD), led by Emil Boc , merged with the smaller Partidul Liberal Democrat (PLD) under Theodor Stolojan , which emerged from the reform forces of the former Communist Party , which first turned into Social Democrats and then into Liberal Conservatives . The PD (and after the merger also the PD-L) was close to the then President Traian Băsescu . The Partidul Liberal Democrat came into being in December 2006 as the ruling Partidul Național Liberal (PNL) split from Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu .

The Partidul Democrat-Liberal was in opposition to the then Tăriceanu government and saw itself as a Christian Democratic and liberal-conservative center-right party. The party chairman was Emil Boc, Theodor Stolojan his deputy. In December 2007 PD-L provided 69 of the 332 members of the Romanian Parliament. Its members in the European Parliament belonged to the European People's Party .

In government (2008-12)

In the parliamentary elections on November 30, 2008 , the PD-L became the strongest force, being roughly on a par with the social democratic PSD : The PD-L received 32.4% of the vote and 115 of the 334 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (51 from 137 in the Senate). The PSD (together with its small ally PC ) had 114 seats. Both parties then formed a coalition government led by Emil Boc. In the European elections in June 2009 , the PD-L became the second strongest force behind the Social Democrats with 29.7% and sent 10 representatives to the European Parliament, where they joined the EPP Group.

The grand coalition of PD-L and PSD broke up before the presidential elections in 2009 , was overthrown by a vote of no confidence on October 13, 2009 and was subsequently only in office as a PD-L minority government. The presidential election in November / December 2009 was won by the incumbent Băsescu, supported by the PD-L, with 50.3% in the second ballot. Subsequently, the PD-L formed a coalition with the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) and the Uniunea Națională pentru Progresul României (UNPR), a split from the Social Democrats, at the head of which Emil Boc could continue to rule as Prime Minister. After Boc's resignation in February 2012, the non-party Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu became the new head of government, he was also head of a coalition made up of PD-L, UDMR and UNPR.

In the opposition (2012-14)

The PSD and PNL, which were united in their opposition to President Băsescu, had meanwhile formed a “ Social-Liberal Alliance ” and were anxious to overthrow the government. They finally succeeded in doing so in May 2012, when Ungureanu lost a vote of confidence and Victor Ponta (PSD) was elected as the new Prime Minister. For the remainder of the legislature, the PD-L was in opposition. In June 2012, the then Senate President Vasile Blaga took over the chairmanship of the PD-L from Emil Boc (shortly afterwards, Blaga was deposed as Senate President by the new Social-Liberal majority). The Social-Liberal Alliance then tried to remove President Băsescu from his post, which plunged Romania into a state crisis . However, a corresponding referendum failed due to insufficient participation.

The PD-L entered the parliamentary elections in December 2012 as part of an Alianţa România Dreaptă ("Alliance (Ge) Right Romania") with the Christian Democratic PNȚCD , the small bourgeois party Forța Civică and the Iniţiativa Civică de Centru group initiated by Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu -Dreapta on. However, the alliance only got 16.5% of the votes, which translates into 56 deputy and 24 senatorial seats. That meant a sharp fall for the PD-L, while Victor Ponta's Social-Liberal Alliance triumphed like a landslide and missed the two-thirds majority by only one seat.

In the spring of 2013, President Traian Băsescu fell out with the leadership of the PD-L around Vasile Blaga. The supporters of Băsescu (e.g. Elena Udrea , Cristian Preda ) then left the PD-L and founded the Partidul Mişcarea Populară (PMP). The Social-Liberal Alliance broke up in March 2014, the PNL left the government (Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu and his wing, however, left the PNL to remain in alliance with the PSD).

Merger with the PNL

Together in opposition and without the polarizing figures Băsescu and Tăriceanu between them, PD-L and PNL approached each other again in the period that followed. In the European elections in May 2014 , the PD-L only received 12.2% and five seats - half as many as in the previous election. At the same time, the PNL switched in the European Parliament from the Liberal to the EPP Group, to which the PD-L also belonged. This was seen as a sign of an emerging closer cooperation or even a merger of the two parties.

In July 2014, the PNL and PDL formed the "Christian-Liberal Alliance" (Alianța Creștin Liberală) . They nominated Klaus Johannis (PNL) as a joint candidate for the presidential election in November 2014 . On November 17, 2014 - one day after the runoff election, which Johannis won with 54.4% - the two parties finally united. The name of the much older and historically more important PNL was taken over, while the PD-L was dissolved. Vasile Blaga (PD-L) and Alina Gorghiu (PNL) were co-chairs of the merged party .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Central Election Office of Romania, accessed on December 4, 2008 ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 2.0 MB) 
2. ^ Mădălina Mihalache: PDL, radiat din Registrul partidelor politice. PNL, omorât şi reînviat. In: adevarul.ro , October 6, 2014.