Romanians Strike, Want Leaders to Quit

Tens of thousands of students and workers staged strikes today to press demands for the government to resign, but Prime Minister Petre Roman vowed not to quit.

However, Roman and President Ion Iliescu held talks with Radu Campeanu, leader of one of the two main parliamentary opposition parties, amid indications that the opposition party might join the government.

The current Cabinet is made up solely of members of the National Salvation Front, which overwhelmingly won May’s elections.

The most serious disruption from today’s strikes was a work stoppage at the national airline Tarom. Domestic flights were grounded, and international flights were delayed. Management announced that in view of a strike by navigators and other workers, all flights will be grounded Wednesday.

Campeanu, leader of the National Liberal Party, demanded last week that opposition parties be allowed to join the government to broaden support for needed economic reforms and to improve democracy. He also demanded that Roman be replaced by someone unaffiliated with the Front.

But Roman, speaking on national television late Sunday, firmly rejected calls for his resignation and stressed that he had sided with all those who rebelled against the communist government.

After meeting with Campeanu, Roman said the Front was “open” to a “sharing of responsibility in a difficult moment” for Romania.