Romanian politicians deliver messages after death of former President Ion Iliescu

Romanian politicians are delivering messages after the death of former President Ion Iliescu, on Tuesday, at the age of 95.

"Ion Iliescu died and took with him almost a century of Romanian history. He was a statesman who cultivated respect based on dialogue. He knew how to solve with wisdom and balance many of the problems of the complicated transition that Romania went through after 1989. He knew how to build teams, he knew how to establish alliances but, above all, he managed to generate consensus on the great challenges of post-December Romania. From that point of view, the Snagov Table remains a great example," former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase wrote in a blog post.

The former prime minister recalled his long collaboration with Iliescu, to whom he owes his entry into politics.

"We have been working together since 1990. I owe my entry into politics to him. I admired his political qualities but also his human qualities, his passion for culture, his ability to listen, his ability to analyse. I admired his strength to communicate directly with ordinary people but also his presence at international meetings. Most often, I had similar opinions. I think that in the last twenty years there was a lack of a more consistent presence of him in public life. Probably many will value him more after he is gone. He wrote a lot, gave interviews, gave speeches. Looking around today, I would like the younger ones to learn something from all of this. Although I am not very optimistic," said Nastase.

Ion Iliescu was truly a president, says Victor Ponta, a former national leader of the Social Democrats. "With good and bad (...) - as is the case with any great political personality - but, without a doubt, a president of Romania and of the Romanians, who has profoundly marked our history. At least for the fact that under his tenure Romania concluded the accession negotiations to the European Union and NATO, he remains a defining figure for the country's destiny," Ponta wrote on Tuesday in a social media post.