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Liberalism in Romania

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Liberalism and radicalism are important political movements in Romania. Many political parties from these traditions have had important historical roles and substantial support, including representation in the Parliament of Romania. Not all Romanian political parties relevant to this tradition have explicitly described themselves as liberal or radical.

Background

History

Liberalism has been one of the major political forces in Romania since the Wallachian Revolution of 1848. Liberalism in Romania and in the Kingdom of Romania has been represented by the National Liberal Party or in romanian "Partidul Național Liberal". It s founding is represented by the Bratianu Family a bourgeoise upper class family that started the party as their personal ideological party. The family personal ideology that was expressed even by the National Liberal Party personalities was western liberalism,protectionism,nationalism and antisemitism. The PNL was also defined by a mainstream platform of antisemitism, primarily manifesting in its long-standing opposition to granting citizenship to Romanian Jews.

Bratianu style Liberalism

During the Bratianu premiereship the state enforced discriminatory laws that prohibited Jews from settling in the countryside and labeled many urban Jewish residents as "vagrants" to justify their expulsion. According to the 1905 Jewish Encyclopedia, these policies led to international condemnation after several Jews were reportedly drowned in the Danube during botched deportations. This exclusionary stance persisted under later leaders like Dimitrie Sturdza, who blocked non-Romanians from various social positions and orchestrated the exile of Jewish intellectuals such as Moses Gaster and Lazăr Șăineanu. While this was happening PNL fought for agrarian reform and universal men suffrage(giving all men the right to vote instead of only allowing rich and bourgeoise men to vote).

Unlike its major opponent, the PNL managed to preserve its prominence after the implementation of universal male suffrage, playing an important role in shaping the institutional framework of Greater Romania during the 1920s. The post-war era saw a significant shift in the PNL’s social and administrative agenda. Although Ion I. C. Brătianu initially shared his father’s antisemitic views.

But to remain popular Romania's first liberal party removed antisemitism from his official policies so it can attract highly educated voters that weren't so convinced by antisemitism and also that their new rival the National Peasants Party. The PNT or National Peasants Party was formed by Iuliu Maniu and Ion Mihalache the two formed the party to unite the Romanian National Party and the Peasants Party.

While more left wing than PNL,PNT leader Iuliu Maniu was considered a "left liberal" by today's standards as later in his live he was considered the "father" of Romanian Democracy and was also known for protecting democracy even if it was against him sometimes.

As he(Iuliu Maniu)declared for Patria on the 7th of november 1926 "The National Peasants Party wants clean nationalism,a radical democracy and social justice that couldn t be turned into a system of dictatorship,which,for us its maintained by abuse,through gendarmes and even through crimes and which in all the countries where it was put into practice led to the destruction of those who introduced it and to the compromise of state interests. "We are democrats convinced,we want the rule of this democracy,but if it s a dictatorship,she should come out in the open so everyone knows who takes responsibility both historical and politically for this dangerous and criminal attempt"(talking about the PNL many governments).

As the 1930s started the new king of Romania Carol II who had power hungry ideas like making sure the two dominant parties the "peasants" and the "liberals" and this worked eventually destroying the whole democratic system. While PNL was the mainly the party blamed by people this didn't matter now as many liberals left for the National Renaissance Front which became the only party in Romania after Carol the II made every party illegal.

Liberal Opposition against the Communists(PCR)

After the 23th of August of 1944 when the Royal Coup happened Romanian Democracy and Liberalism made a comeback after years of being underground organizations PNL and PNT made a comeback but this wasn't the perfect time for Liberal Democracy and the Communists of PCR(Romanian Communist Party) having support from Moscow they where doing everything to install their proliteriat dictatorship.

Under Soviet pressure the Second Cabinet of Sanatescu also included PCR-PDF(People's Democratic Front) members but the Sanatescu II Cabinet fell on the 5th of December 1944.

This led to the last democratic government of Romania led by General Nicolae Radescu that resisted until February when the first Groza Government begun. The communists(PCR)actions demolished Romanian Democracy so much by the time of the Petru Groza took power every institution was led by communist loyalists.

As 1946 begun the Allied Commission demanded a free and fair election that would make the People decide their future but the communists(PCR) were delaying the election until they suddenly announced it to be on the 19th of November 1946.

The Government

Led by the PDF(People's Democratic Front) it's campaign focused on attacking the two old parties PNL-PNT,using the Antonescu's trial to increase their popularity and calling opposition's formal leader Iuliu Maniu a traitor as one PCR poster said "Jos Maniu care a tradat poporul roman"(In Romanian:"Down with Maniu the one who betrayed the romanian nation).

And one of their most used tactic was to have puppet parties those being the Hungarian People's Union(HPU),National Liberal Party–Tătărescu(used for attracting urban voters),Ploughmen's Front,National Popular Party(used for attracting intellectuals) ,National Peasants' Party–Alexandrescu(used to old PNT voters),Jewish Democratic Committee(attracting jewish voters mainly by Ana Pauker's influence and the Democratic Peasants' Party–Lupu(DPP-L)(it s intention was to get voters to vote for a "opposition party" while it was another puppet party) and finally rigging the election in their favor.

The Opposition

Mainly led by PNT(National Peasants' Party) and what remained of the National Liberals(PNL-led by Dinu Bratianu)led mainly by Iuliu Maniu,the opposition were fighting they re lives. One such incident happened on a event of the PNT youth we're disguised police men into workers ambushed the building as one of the PNT present at the scene declared "Suddenly, about thirty strangers invade us and camp on us. I was lucky enough to get away from the table and rush to the electrical panel(...)" When I come back and make the lights open,the restaurant is still destroyed, and on the floor and on the walls there is blood(...) Ghita Pop refused to give any statement to the police, directly accusing them of organizing this attack. Completely true, since some of the attackers were recognized as police officers."

By this the Communists tried to get rid of the free speech of the opposition a core of Liberal Democracy and Liberalism.

As the election day came the results we're actually the opposition winning in a landslide with a possible of 64% and 4.3 million votes and BPD(PDF) getting almost 2 million votes and around 26%,but the communists we're ready and burned many of the actual ballot papers and even some PCR members we're asked to put in each votting box 40 fake votes as one PCR member told his friend that: "You (the opposition) couldn't win the elections, because only me introduced 40 votes with the Sun (referring to PDF). And like me others have done the same"(from a book by Virginia Ion "O ancheta despre alegerile din 1946").

And the official results from the Government showed the BPD with 70% and the opposition with only a 17%.(The 1946 election results)

And so Romanian Democracy and Liberalism ended as the Communists and BPD won and Romania became a Socialist country and eventually made in a Communist Regime that lasted 4 decades until 1989.[Part 3 and the final one i hope]

Romanian Democracy and Liberalism after 1989

The first Romanian National Liberal Party (PNL) was active from 1875 until both its major factions were quashed in 1947 and 1950 by the communist government. The contemporary National Liberal Party (also PNL) was re-founded in 1990 after the Romanian Revolution.[1] The centre-right PNL has had notable factions, splits and mergers, including the re-absorption of breakaway parties. For example, the right-wing and pro-German National Liberal Party–Brătianu reunited with the rest of the party in 1938[2] after splitting off in 1930.[3] More recently, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) split from the PNL and was a junior partner in a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) between 2017 and 2019, before merging again with the PNL in early 2022.[4]

Timeline of parties and movements

Note: The sign ⇒ denotes another party in this scheme.

Precursors

National Liberal Party (PNL)

  • 1875: The liberal current organised itself in the National Liberal Party (Partidul Naţional-Liberal), led by Ion Brătianu
  • 1884: A faction formed the Radical Party, led by C.A. Rosetti and George Panu
  • 1899: The National Liberal Party absorbs the right wing of the Romanian Social-Democratic Workers' Party
  • 1918: The Peasants' Party absorbs a left-wing tendency in the National Liberal Party formed around Constantin Stere
  • 1929: A faction formed the ⇒ National Liberal Party-Brătianu
  • 1931: A faction formed the Liberal Democratic Party, which remained unsuccessful. The same year a majority of the Brătianu party returned in the National Liberal Party
  • 1938: The rest of the Brătianu party returned in the National Liberal Party
  • 1938: The party is banned by King Carol II
  • 1944: The party resumed its activities
  • 1944: A faction formed the ⇒ National Liberal Party-Tătărescu
  • 1947: The Brătianu faction dissolves itself

National Liberal Party-Brătianu (PNL-B)

  • 1929: A breakaway faction of the ⇒ National Liberal Party (PNL) formed the National Liberal Party–Brătianu (Romanian: Partidul Naţional Liberal-Brătianu), supporting Gheorghe I. Brătianu as its president;
  • 1931: Most of the party returned to the ⇒ National Liberal Party (PNL);
  • 1938: The party reunited with the ⇒ National Liberal Party (PNL).

National Liberal Party–Tătărescu (PNL-T)

  • 1944: A faction of the ⇒ National Liberal Party (PNL) formed the National Liberal Party–Tătărescu (Romanian: Partidul Naţional Liberal-Tătărescu, PNL-T) which was presided initially by former Prime Minister and PNL member Gheorghe Tătărescu (who was also previously a member of the National Renaissance Front, FRN) and then, subsequently, by Petre Bejan towards the end of its political existence;
  • 1946: The party ran in that year's Romanian general election with the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) and the Ploughmen's Front (FP), being part of the People's Democratic Front (Romanian: Frontul Democrației Populare, FDP) which at that time ran as the Bloc of Democratic Parties (Romanian: Blocul Partidelor Democratice, BPD). The election was fraudulently won by the Communists. The party was briefly part of the Communist-dominated governmental coalition led by Petru Groza between 1946 until 1947;
  • 1948: The party decided to ran separately in that year's Romanian legislative election, in opposition towards the Bloc of Democratic Parties (BPD). It entered the unicameral Parliament (or, as it was now back then, the Great National Assembly) with a very feeble number of elected representatives, more specifically 7. For that year's legislative election, the party leadership switched from Tătărescu to Bejan and remained as such during the upcoming years;
  • 1950: The party ceased its political activity.

Reconstituted National Liberal Party (PNL)

  • 1990: A party claiming the National Liberal legacy is founded by Radu Câmpeanu[5]
  • 1990: A youth faction of the National Liberal Party formed the ⇒ Liberal Party Youth Wing
  • 1991: A faction formed the ⇒ National Liberal Party-Democratic Convention
  • 1995: The ⇒ Liberal party 1993 merged into the National Liberal Party, the ⇒ National Liberal Party-Câmpeanu seceded from the party
  • 1998: The party absorbed the ⇒ Civic Alliance Party
  • 2002: The Alliance for Romania (Alianţa pentru România) merged into the National Liberal Party
  • 2003: The Union of Right-Wing Forces (Uniunea Forţelor de Dreapta) and the ⇒ National Liberal Party-Câmpeanu merged into the party

From National Liberal Party Youth Wing (PNL-AT) to Liberal Party 1993 (PL '93)

  • 1990: A youth faction of the ⇒ National Liberal Party (PNL) formed the National Liberal Party Youth Wing (Romanian: Partidul Naţional Liberal-Aripa Tînără, PNL-AT) in opposition to then leadership of the party which was presided by Radu Câmpeanu;
  • 1992: The party was renamed Liberal Party (Romanian: Partidul Liberal) and was led by Horia Rusu;
  • 1993: The Liberal Party merged with the ⇒ National Liberal Party-Democratic Convention (PNL-CD) and the Group for Moral and Political Reforms into the Liberal Party 1993 (Romanian: Partidul Liberal 1993, PL '93), joined by a faction of the ⇒ Civic Alliance Party (PAC);
  • 1995: The party merged into the ⇒ National Liberal Party (PNL).

Civic Alliance Party (PAC)

  • 1991: A section of the Civic Alliance (PAC) non-governmental organization established the Civic Alliance Party (Romanian: Partidul Alianţa Civică), led by Nicolae Manolescu;
  • 1993: A faction joined the ⇒ Liberal Party 1993;
  • 1998: The party merged into the ⇒ National Liberal Party (PNL).

National Liberal Party-Democratic Convention (PNL-CD)

National Liberal Party-Câmpeanu (PNL-C)

Alliance for Romania (ApR)

Democratic Liberal Party (PDL)

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE)

Save Romania Union (USR)

Is a reformist liberal party formed in 2016 that is curently led by Dominic Fritz. (USR)

Force of the Right (FD)

Presidents of the National Liberal Party (1875–present)

More information Nº, Name ...
Nº Name Term start Term end
1 Ion Brătianu 1875 1891
2 Dumitru Brătianu 1891 1892
3 Dimitrie Sturdza 1892 1908
4 Ion I. C. Brătianu 1908 24 November 1927
5 Vintilă Brătianu November/December 1927 1930
6 Ion Duca 1930 30 December 1933
7 Dinu Brătianu December 1933 1948
none (party dissolved during Romanian Communist Party rule) 1948 1989
8 Radu Câmpeanu January 1990 February 1993
9 Mircea Ionescu-Quintus February 1993 February 2001
10 Valeriu Stoica February 2001 August 2002
11 Theodor Stolojan August 2002 October 2004
12 Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu October 2004 March 2009
13 Crin Antonescu March 2009 June 2014
14 Klaus Iohannis June 2014 December 2014
15 Vasile Blaga December 2014 September 2016
16 Alina Gorghiu December 2014 December 2016
– Raluca Turcan (acting/ad interim) December 2016 June 2017
17 Ludovic Orban June 2017 September 2021
18 Florin Cîțu September 2021 April 2022
– Gheorghe Flutur (acting/ad interim) April 2022 April 2022
19 Nicolae Ciucă April 2022 November 2024
20 Ilie Bolojan November 2024 incumbent
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See also

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