Romanian President Traian Basescu has renewed his pressure for early elections in Romania, defending the idea in an interview for the Financial Times this weekend. In the interview, he dismissed the idea that Romania would suffer because of the persisting tensions between him and prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu.

According to the FT, Basescu avoided to criticize the prime minister any longer but insisted that a message he received from Tariceanu - which sparked a huge political scandal in Bucharest last week - was uninspired.

The message, which Tariceanu sent to Basescu almost two years ago, was understood by the head of state as a way for the PM to defend the interests of a Romanian oil mogul facing hearings in a criminal case.

According to the FT, Basescu defended the idea of early elections, which according to the latest polls his party would win.

And he also spoke of EU fears that Romania’s European accession would consolidate the far-right movement across the Union. He said the Romanian far-right is far from stronger than the similar movements in other European countries.

He also said the country would not cool down in its efforts to promote reform and combat corruption.

And he insisted that the EU may reduce its energy dependency on Russia by limiting energy consumption and developing alternate routes for oil and gas deliveries.