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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Romania
Index
At a special National Conference of the PCR in December
1967--
the first such event in twenty-two years--Ceausescu
continued to
strengthen his position. Attending the conference were
members of
the Central Committee and 1,150 delegates from local party
organizations. Ceausescu elected to employ the technique
of the
party conference rather than a special party congress in
order to
have his proposals approved by a larger body than the
Central
Committee. At the same time, he wanted to avoid election
of a new
Central Committee, which a party congress would have
required.
Ceausescu proposed a number of reforms in the structure
and
functioning of the party and government, and he asserted
the need
to eliminate duplication. He proposed that the Central
Committee
limit itself to basic decisions of economic policy and
that
specific matters of implementation be left to the
ministries.
Political and ideological activity, Ceausescu proposed,
would
remain under the control of the Central Committee and
would be
given greater emphasis and direction through the creation
of an
ideological commission that would develop an intensified
program of
political education. A defense council, composed of the
party's
Standing Presidium and other members, would be established
to deal
with most military questions, but basic guidance for both
the armed
forces and the state security apparatus would remain the
responsibility of the Central Committee. Major foreign
policy
questions would be decided by the Standing Presidium.
Ceausescu proposed several reforms in the organization
and
responsibilities of government organs and called for
redrawing the
country's administrative subdivisions. He sought to
broaden the
activities of the GNA and its commissions, and he
recommended a
larger role for the Council of Ministers in formulating
long-term
economic plans. In addition, he suggested that the heads
of three
important mass organizations--the UGSR, the UTC, and the
National
Union of Agricultural Production Cooperatives--be included
in the
government and be given ministerial ranking.
The National Conference unanimously adopted Ceausescu's
proposals and reversed the party statutes adopted in 1965
that
prevented the party leader from simultaneously holding the
position
of head of state. The official rationale for uniting the
highest
offices of the party and state was to eliminate
duplication of
functions and increase efficiency. Stoica was given a
position in
the party Secretariat and later, in 1969, was named
chairman of the
Central Auditing Commission.
In implementing Ceausescu's recommendations, certain
positions
in the party and state organizations were fused. For
example,
judet and city party first secretaries became
chairmen of
the corresponding people's councils, and secretaries of
local party
units and labor union representatives became involved in
the
councils of industrial enterprises.
Immediately following the National Conference, the GNA
convened
to elect Ceausescu president of the State Council. Apostol
was
demoted from his position as a first deputy prime minister
to his
previously held post of UGSR chairman. Draghici was
removed from
the party Secretariat and given a position as a deputy
prime
minister under Maurer, who was reappointed prime minister.
With the
successful demotion of his chief rivals, Ceausescu emerged
at the
close of 1967 as the undisputed leader of both the party
and the
state.
Data as of July 1989
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