One month before the elections, the government and the opposition launched a fierce debate over the name of the future prime minister. Since in the domestic politics, counting your chickens before they hatch is nothing out of the ordinary, it's no surprise that before presenting concrete strategies for an economic turnaround, or medium and long term projects, politicians are squabbling over positions they haven't even earned the right to argue over. The disputes over the appointment of the future prime minister are counterproductive, as long as the potential prime ministers, Victor Ponta and Adriean Videanu, are both being accused of various acts of thievery, from subtle plagiarism to crooked contracts. For potential investors, this kind of characterizations are intended to raise questions over the odds of success of a business you start in a country governed by a politician who is under such suspicions.

The statement of Vasile Blaga, that Adriean Videanu is in the cards to be a prime minister nominee of the ARD, stirred up a storm. Victor Ponta argued vehemently: "What country are they going to nominate him as prime-minister in, Thief-land? Actually, what's more likely is that Mr. Blaga, even though he doesn't seem like it, has a sense of humor. We are not going to turn this country into Thief-land, to appoint Mr. Videanu as Prime Minister. Heaven forbid, hasn't he stolen enough from it? That would really top it all off. I repeat, it must have been a joke made by Mr. Blaga, I don't think he was being serious. Considering how the budget looked according to the proposals of the ARD, I would almost let Blaga form a government. Mr. Videanu, though, I wouldn't, because he is capable of stealing all of the 11 billion like he did with the curbs in Bucharest. We don't want to go into a competition of demagogy with the ARD. When it comes to outrageous lies, no one can