The Greater Romania Party (Romanian: Partidul România Mare, PRM) is a Romanian nationalist political party, led by Corneliu Vadim Tudor. The party is sometimes referred to in English as the Great Romania Party.
It briefly participated in government from 1993 to 1995 (in Nicolae Văcăroiu's cabinet). In 2000, Tudor received the second largest number of votes in Romania's presidential elections, partially as a result of protest votes lodged by Romanians frustrated with the fractionalization and mixed performance of the 1996-2000 Romanian Democratic Convention government. Tudor's second place position ensured he would compete in the second round run-off against former president and Romanian Social Democratic Party (PDSR) candidate Ion Iliescu, who won by a large margin. Parallels are often drawn with the situation in France two years later, when far right Front National Party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen similarly drew the second largest number of votes and was elevated, but defeated, in the presidential run-off against Jacques Chirac.
Although Tudor clearly remained the central figure in the PRM, in March 2005 he briefly stepped down from the party presidency in favour of Corneliu Ciontu. A primary objective of the move was to provide the appearance of a shift toward the political center and to attempt to align PRM with the European People's Party (EPP) bloc in the European Parliament. During this period the PRM also briefly changed its name to the Greater Romania's People Party. EPP, however, rejected the PRM as a potential member. Tudor stated he refused to join the EPP because of its lack of identity. In June 2005, Tudor asserted that he had decided the new leadership had distanced itself from the founding principles of the party, and he sacked the new leadership and reverted the party's name back to simply the "Greater Romania Party". In November 2005, Ciontu, along with a small faction of the PRM, formed their own party, the People's Party, which has since merged with the New Generation – Christian Democratic Party.
As of January 2007, with Romania's accession to the E.U., it was reported that România Mare's five MEPs were set to join a group of far-right parties in the European Parliament that includes the French National Front and Austrian Freedom Party, giving them sufficient numbers to form an official bloc, called Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty.
Read more about Greater Romania Party: History and Ideology, PRM Results in Elections
Famous quotes containing the words greater and/or party:
“Families suffered badly under industrialization, but they survived, and the lives of men, women, and children improved. Children, once marginal and exploited figures, have moved to a position of greater protection and respect,... The historic decline in the overall death rates for children is an astonishing social fact, notwithstanding the disgraceful infant mortality figures for the poor and minorities. Like the decline in death from childbirth for women, this is a stunning achievement.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“Fiddle-dee-dee! War, war, war. This war talks spoiling all the fun at every party this spring. I get so bored I could scream. Besides, there isnt going to be any war.”
—Sidney Howard (18911939)