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President Iohannis: A new country project is required for Romania
A new country project is required for Romania, president Klaus Iohannis said on Monday afternoon, adding that all the political leaders who were invited at the Presidential Administration for consulations agreed to participate in this project.
"A new country project is required for Romania, for the future Romania in the European Union. This is my message to the leaders I have met with today," the head of state declared, after a second round of consultations at the Cotroceni Palace with Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, National Bank of Romania Governor Mugur Isarescu and the leaders of parliamentary parties on the consequences of the EU membership referendum in the United Kingdom.
He emphasized that all the political leaders agreed to participate in this post-integration process, which is to be drafted by a working group to operate under the Presidency.
"This working group could operate in optimum conditions right here, at the Presidency, even on an electoral year," he added.
Iohannis stressed that such a project could become functional if it gets support by consensu.
"Such a country project could become operable only if it is adopted, approved, supported in a consensus. Unfortunately, we have had enough so-called country projects in Romania, strategies that were neither implemented, nor have lasted because they lacked political consensus. This time we shall elaborate this country project together, and this will help Romania's pace for the medium and long-term future of Romania in the EU, we shall establish what is Romania's place, role and level of ambition in the European Union," the head of state concluded.
The country project coordinated by President Klaus Iohannis will be a general approach to Romania's goals for the next years and will include an economic side, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos declared after consultations held by the President with the prime minister, central bank governor Mugur Isarescu and the heads of parliamentary parties.
Ciolos said that the economic strategy to be presented on Tuesday by the government is a medium and long-term economic perspective included in the country project. The strategy will be presented by the Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Relations with the Business Environment, under the patronage of the President, with the support of the Romanian Academy and the National Bank of Romania. It is entitled 'Competitive Romania: A project for sustainable economic growth.'
On Monday, the President convened a second round of consultation to discuss the impact of the EU membership referendum in the United Kingdom and Romania's future in the EU. He had asserted that nearly a decade after it joined the EU, Romania still lacks a national project on European matters. Both Iohannis and Ciolos stressed that such a project needs a broad national consensus, and voiced their hope that all the political forces will join it.