with Virgil Măgureanu's PNR, a party that had many former Securitate employees. In 2003, Băsescu negotiated an electoral alliance for the PD with the PNL in order to create a cohesive opposition against the then-ruling PSD. The new pact, called the Justice and Truth Alliance (), ran common candidates in local and national elections, and agreed to vote as a bloc in Parliament. As chairman of PD, he became a co-chairman of the Justice and Truth Alliance alongside the then PNL chairman Theodor Stolojan. In 2003, Stolojan, who was the Justice and Truth candidate for president of Romania in 2004, stepped down as PNL chairman and Justice and Truth co-chairman, and was replaced in these positions by Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu. Although it was announced that Stolojan had withdrawn because of health concerns, Băsescu claimed to the press that the reason behind this decision was blackmail by political opponents (Stolojan did not confirm this). This sudden change in leadership of the DA alliance transformed the 2004 presidential election to a race between two leaders of parties affiliated with the Socialist International. Editorialist Dan Pavel decried the development as a "marginalization of the right," and the presidential race as a choice between two former "FSN cadres". Nevertheless, there were significant differences in the economic programs of the DA alliance and the PSD in 2004. The DA alliance leaned towards economic liberalism, with the introduction of a 16% flat tax that replaced the progressive personal income tax of up to 40%, and the 25% corporate tax. In January 2005, the Financial Times described the DA alliance as "centrist". Băsescu's party would not officially abandon social-democrat ideals until 2005, after PD's leadership was unhappy with the support given by the Socialist International to the PDSR during the 2004 elections, and by the fact that the Socialist International admitted the PDSR's successor, PSD, with full membership rights, while the PD remained only an associate member. In a 2006 interview, Băsescu stated that his party's exit from the Socialist International was a "huge concession" he made to PNL after discussions of a merger of PD and PNL began in 2004. A change in the leadership of PNL prevented the merger; according to Băsescu, most of the PNL leaders who negotiated the joint governance with Băsescu in 2004 had been marginalized by 2006, making collaboration difficult. In December 2006, those members of the PNL who favored closer ties