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Dacian Ciolos announces resignation as USR chair, says not considering new candidacy
Dacian Ciolos announced on Monday that he was resigning as Save Romania Union (USR) Chairman and mentioned he was not considering a new candidacy at the next congress of the party.
"I thought natural and commonsensical to tender my resignation, because the sense for which I ran for the party chairmanship was to contribute to the party modernising - which I think this party needs after the merger - and for this thing to happen I also needed the support and complicity of the National Bureau. My belief is that USR is still an alternative on the political stage of Romania, an alternative to extremism. (...) I shall no longer run for chairman. It makes no sense," Ciolos showed, in a press conference at the party headquarters.
Ciolos brought to mind that before the USR Congress of 2021 he proposed Dan Barna that neither of them ran for chairman of the party, in order to create the context of a "renewal" inside the political formation.
"Here we are, unfortunately, we have reached the same situation, but with a few months' delay. I hope once more that my colleagues have the wisdom and together we have the wisdom to overcome this moment, for USR to become what we all wish for," he said.
On the other hand, Ciolos said he had repeatedly been confronted with an 11 to 14 vote in the National Bureau, which showed a fissure in the party.
"It is not strength that I lacked, but the confidence that we could collaborate together. Power mustn't be concentrated in one single man. And, inside the USR, I don't believe there is anyone who can manage, any man, even from the outside, to concentrate power and carry the party in one direction all by oneself. However, without the confidence that we can collaborate with one another and have common interests, without that confidence (...) it will be tough. When you constantly have a 14 to 11 vote in the National Bureau, it shows that there is a fissure which is hard to overcome. I hope my colleagues can overcome it," said Ciolos.
He mentioned that through the project he proposed to the Standing Bureau he endorsed an openness of the party to the business environment and the civil society. At the same time, he highlighted that he would remain a member of the USR.
"I remain a party member and I will further seek, along with the other colleagues who believe that this party, in order to have a future, needs renewal, reconnection to the society, needs the courage to admit its limits that must be overcome in the coming period," Ciolos also said.
According to him, the interim leadership of the party would be ensured by Catalin Drula, the deputy chair who garnered the highest number of votes in the National Bureau. Nonetheless Ciolos said that the party should start debating on a modification of the statutes.
"I don't believe that 'business as usual' is still a solution for the USR. (...) I believe the USR still has ahead a period of time in which it will have to learn the lessons of the participation in the governing act, of what happened in the political crisis that we knew at the end of last year, and provide a new platform for what will happen in 2024," Ciolos said.