The political situation in Romania after the May 19 referendum to remove President Traian Basescu from office was on the agenda of talks held by European Socialists at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday night.

Romanian MEP Adrian Severin used the occasion to inform the ESP about the results of the referendum, but opted not to mention the serious electoral losses purported by his Social Democratic Party (PSD) after its failed attempt to remove Basescu from the presidency through the poll.

PSD representatives in the EP told HotNews.ro that the European Socialists recommended party leaders to stay in the opposition. The deputy head of the ESP group in the EP Jan Marinus Wiersma did not confirm the information, suggesting that people in Brussels did not know much about the situation the PSD was facing back home.

Wiersma told HotNews.ro that “PSD is free to decide whether it joins the government [following ongoing political negotiations in Bucharest] along with the PNL”, Romania’s National Liberal Party. “PSD is playing an important role because it supports a minority government.

But a majority government, I say it sincerely, is better than a minority one for a country like Romania, but we don’t plan to tell the PSD what to do”, Wiersma said.

He also warned that no matter what happens, the modernization of the PSD must continue. The danger of negative results for the PSD in the October European elections in Romania, which would mean fewer Socialists in the European Parliament, is already causing concern among the ESP.