Iohannis tells Parliament cohesion around major national projects needed more than ever

Romania needs, more than ever before, cohesion around major national projects, unity, consensus, tolerance and solidarity, President Klaus Iohannis told a plenary solemn sitting of Parliament on Monday dedicated to the National Day of Romania. 

"We, who are leading the destinies of our nation, have a fundamental duty to those we represent to fully respect these choices, and their will to be law to us! There is only one way to get the society's solidarity, Nicolae Iorga would say, and that would be the ideal around which all the energy and resources must be gathered. We need, more than ever before, cohesion around grand national projects, unity, consensus, tolerance and solidarity. It is the only way for us to build the country we want. The political class and the government should concentrate their efforts to respond to the needs of society, and the partnership with the citizens must be an honest and credible one." 

According to Iohannis, Romania must become the country where the expats want to return, and the Romanians at home should enjoy all the resources necessary to fulfill their aspirations. 

"Reforming the big public systems, upgrading the public administration, strengthening state institutions and restoring the citizens' confidence in them, capitalising on the creative energies of the Romanians, protecting the national identity, the heritage and resources, securing economic stability and sustainable development, promoting democratic values are just a few the objectives we have to achieve. It won't be easy, but we have learned from our past that any major project requires a lot of hardworking, seriousness and professionalism. The outcomes are remarkable when the Romanians want and support all these noble causes," Iohannis said. 

He added that he is honoured to be part of the project to reconstruct Romania, which is at the same time a responsibility. 

"I am confident in our ability, as a nation, to make things work, so that Romania may get in line with the values and principles we believe in. We are the artisans of the future Romania and our actions depend on the modernisation and development we have been expecting for long. Together, let us make Romania normal, the powerful country that the ancestors dreamed of, the democratic society hoped by those who gave their lives for freedom 30 years ago, a single, prosperous country, of all, as our young people want," the President added. 

Iohannis added that 2019 was a heavy election year. "Although we have faced many tensions and conflicts, with the politicisation of sensitive issues and with attempts to deepen the faults in the society, the big win this year is that the Romanians, by their vote, have stated clearly and willingly that they want a pro-European Romania, strongly attached to the values of democracy and the rule of law, a prosperous country, with efficient public systems, with an independent justice, with a political class in the service of the citizens. By their choice in the referendum, the European elections and the presidential election, the Romanians voted not to forget who we are and where we want to go. What a strong connection with the historical ideals we celebrate these days than this firm reconfirmation of our national identity! Because of all these resounding victories of this democratic vote in the first year of Romania's second century of existence, we have proved without any doubt that the Romanians, despite difficult circumstances, are genuine Europeans and they share and take up the same values and benchmarks as the other citizens of our old continent," said Iohannis. 

The president spared a good thought for Romanians "whom life and history have scattered in four corners, beyond borders, but who have proven, through an amazing participation in number and option, that they are an integral part of our nation." "Our diaspora remains not only with the mind, but also with action strongly anchored in the life of the Romanian society. This devotion to the country must also be acknowledged institutionally, for example, by a considerable increase in the number of legitimate representatives of Romanians abroad," concluded Iohannis.