Iohannis: We must develop green, pollution-free cities, with well-protected resources

President Klaus Iohannis sent a message on Tuesday at the General Assembly of the Association of Romanian Cities stating that green cities should be developed, pollution-free, resistant to climate change and the resources of which are well protected and used efficiently, showing that there are a multitude of tools in this regard, one being the PNRR to be mostly capitalised, Agerpres reports.

In the message sent by state councilor Catalina Galer, the president said that at present, Romania benefits from a multitude of European instruments meant to facilitate the modernization and development of the state, but especially of the local communities, pointing out that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) represents such an instrument that must be fully exploited.

"High-performance public utilities, modern schools and hospitals, paved roads and efficient transport infrastructure - all this should become in a few years a constant of every local community," president Iohannis said.

He emphasizes that the efficient and timely implementation of investment projects included in PNRR also depends on the involvement of local public administrations.

The president voiced himself for finding new ways to solve problems in education, infrastructure, health, economy, digitization, energy or urban mobility, stressing that these areas require a common approach in exercising the activity of the General Assembly of the Association of Cities in Romania and a good collaboration between the state authorities, based on transparency and integrity.

He said that the current challenges are more and more diverse and require a better capacity to adapt, a context in which a permanent collaboration between the institutions is required, but also more transparency and communication with people.

Klaus Iohannis specified that, at the local level, the success of good governance depends on understanding the needs of citizens and how the administration manages to respond quickly, efficiently and transparently to these needs. The president pointed out the importance of the involvement of the citizens in the decision-making process and of the action of the authorities as a real partner of them.

"The modernization of public services, as well as infrastructure, their adaptation to the new requirements and to a context in a permanent dynamic, represent challenges for any local community, whether we are talking about the big cities or the smaller localities. Regardless of where they live, citizens want the same thing: fast, efficient and high-quality public services," the president said.

Klaus Iohannis appreciated the fact that more and more local administrations operate with concepts such as Smart City or Green City and have begun to digitize their services as much as possible, for the benefit of the inhabitants.