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President Iohannis: People had to die for Government to resign

"Now we have a new situation, a resigning government. I expect the resigning prime minister to forward the resignation of the Government and I will immediately contact parliamentary parties and call for consultations with the parties. These consultations, in the optimum variant, will take place tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, at the latest," said the head of state at the Cotroceni Palace, the seat of the Presidency.

He mentioned that, until the end of this week, he wishes to finalize the first round of consultations in order to have an image of how the parties see solving of this situation.

"We will have an interim Government, we will have a solution that I will communicate when it crystallizes," Iohannis also said.

Regarding variants launched by parties and analysts, the head of state claimed that he does not want to enter technical details.

"Only after we take the following steps, after the first round of consultations, will I come in front of the public opinion and expose my first conclusions, my opinion regarding the things to come, yet these changes are only a new step, an important step, but only one step in the direction of changing Romanian politics, in the direction of improving the performance of the Romanian political class, towards a sort of politics as we all want, pragmatic and transparent. There is still a lot to do. We cannot believe that a simple change of Government solves Romania's problems, not even the problems of the political class. There is much, much more needed. I am willing to assume these demarches that will, finally, lead to a different kind of politics in Romania, politics for the citizens, predictable and transparent," Iohannis said.

He emphasized that the Government has resigned "very late."

"People needed to die for this resignation to take place. If respect for norms and laws had been imposed, none would have had to die," said Iohannis. 

He showed that since he took over his presidential mandate many steps have been taken in the right direction, yet in the past weeks things have taken a turn for the worse.

"On October 20 an accident occurred, policeman Bogdan Gigina, who was leading an official motorcade, died in an accident. This provoked a lot of emotion, a lot of indignation. After 10 days, on October 30, the tragedy in the Colectiv club took place. This tragedy affected, if I can say so, the nerves of the nation, it touched the most sensible nerves of the Romanian nation. People who were initially indignant became revolted. They waited for actions, they waited for results, they waited, why not say it, for resignations from politicians who have obviously failed. The people have awaited that someone take the blame, for that political responsibility to appear in the Romanian political class. Most politicians did not understand these demands until very late, very late did they understand that they cannot do anything, they cannot ignore the will of the people," Iohannis claimed.

He emphasized that the accident with the policeman who died and the tragedy in the Colectiv club took place because laws and norms were ignored, and those responsible with checking, enforcing the law did not do their duty.

"Last night the indignation of people transformed into an authentic revolt. Tens of thousands took to the streets to show their indignation, their revolt, their discontent. The majority in Bucharest, but in other cities too. Streets were occupied. We must admit, the protesters were right. They had many common sense requests. They requested the resignations of those guilty, they requested answers, they requested clarification. Last night, in my opinion, took place the most appropriate street manifestations that I saw. The people came out, they protested, they went to different places and voiced their discontent. Practically there were no incidents, no scuffles, no unduly approaches, but the people showed clearly what they expect — change", said the head of state.

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Thursday, November 5, 2015