sentences:  Speeches containing demands were made and the Valley was in a state of maximum tension.Frightened by the events, on 2 August the authorities sent a negotiating team from Bucharest.Ilie Verdeț (first vice-president of the Council of Ministers) and Gheorghe Pană (president of the Central Council of the General Trade Union Confederation of Romania and Minister of Labour) were both Politburo members, Verdeț a former miner himself.