* Who will foot the bill?
All the ministers in the Ponta government and the president of the PNL Crin Antonescu have agreed to the Roşia Montană project, according to yesterday's statements by the prime minister.
"In the Government, absolutely everybody has given their approval. I have also talked to Mr. Antonescu, on Friday as well, but as for the political decision made on Monday (ed. note: by which the President of the National Liberal Party (PNL) has expressed his rejection of the project) I acknowledge it and respect it", the prime minister said.
Who or what has made Crin Antonescu change his mind over the week-end, so that on Monday morning he would be so adamantly against the project?
Some analysts claim that this is the beginning of the end for the USL, which will probably fall apart after the elections for the European parliament.
Crin Antonescu may have been told that PSD will have his own candidate for the presidential elections which will be held next year, which means that PNL will leave the government. Crin Antonescu would have to be increasingly popular to avoid having another liberal presidential candidate overtake him in terms of credibility. And it would seem that he has chosen the right hand to play - the exploitation of Roşia Montană, an extremely sensitive topic among Romanians. Yesterday's decision to oppose the project may have brought him lots of additional votes.
But the prime-minister isn't sitting idly by, twiddling his thumbs. Instead, he is coming out with "shocking" statements: we may be forced to pay over 2 billion Euros in damages, or the rejection of the Roşia Montană project will lead to "the wiping of the Alba county from the economic map".
Last night, however, Victor Ponta said, in his characteristic style, that,
"as a deputy", he would vote against the project.
Meanwhile,