On the other hand, Social-Liberal co-leader Victor Ponta, president of the Social-Democratic Party, argued against signing a political agreement of the kind that ruling coalition parties have signed recently. Ponta said the treaty was signed between Romania and other EU member states, not between the ruling power and the opposition in Bucharest. Social-Liberals have also suggested appointing PM Mihai Razvan Ungureanu to sign the document instead of president Traian Basescu, since this is an inter-governmental treaty. As regards the ratification itself, it should be preceded by a public debate on the terms and consequences of the treaty. Dan Radu Rusanu, vice-president of the National Liberal Party explained:

“An impact analysis of these terms is yet to be drawn up, and we have called on the Romanian government to do that. There is no connection between our parliamentary strike and the ratification of the treaty. I repeat, Parliament must mandate the PM to ratify the treaty. Since the Parliament majority has voted for the new government, the same majority can mandate the PM and the government to ratify the Treaty”.

Opposition members say the debate is crucial, since budget constraints stipulated by the fiscal stability treaty concern fields such as public investment, healthcare and education. At the end of January, EU member states, with the exception of the UK and the Czech Republic adopted the fiscal stability treaty in the wake of the sovereign debt crisis sweeping the Eurozone. The treaty requires signatory states to introduce a “golden rule” on budget balance into their national legislation, that should automatically keep loans in check.

Last week, the presidents of ruling coalition parties, which include the Liberal-Democratic Party, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and the National Union for the Progress of Romania, signed a political agreement supporting the signing of the treaty by the head of state at the European Council in Brussels scheduled on March 1st and 2nd. The ruling coalition members say the implementation of the treaty will ensure a sound budget and will build up trust among Romania’s foreign investors.