Traian Basescu held on Thursday his first press conference at the presidential palace, discussing Romania's priorities, ensuring his listeners that Romania has all it takes to avoid being affected by the international financial crisis and criticized Standard&Poor's claiming that their evaluation is not credible. The head of state also appealed to unions to postpone their protests until after the elections and ensured teachers that the 50% raise will come into force as soon as a new Government is installed after the elections.
The main statements made by Traian Basescu:
About unions and reforms:
- An electoral cycle ends today, the electoral campaign start tomorrow. It is a good time to discuss Romania's priorities;
- Imagine Romania in 2020-2030, when an inhabitant of the rural area still has to go to the county capital to find a doctor, a country in which no doctor would look at you without paying a small bribe;
- The quality teachers are far gone in the private sector, the doctors are abroad already;
- The reality can be corrected, so I decided to talk about the priorities we have in the Parliament;
- Without reforms in Education, health Care and Public Administration, Romania doesn't have a chance for a positive evolution. We must stimulate the birth rate growth. Romania lost 1.5 million people;
- The level of bureaucracy, the huge level of expenses demanded by the bureaucratic system is not justified.
- I see that the unions prepare to go on strike. As I said in the case of the teachers - reforms before the money. Without reform, it will not be possible to see wages growing in the public administration. Since the '90's, we had several raises without reforms, but we can't afford it anymore.
- Romania has 4.5 million retired people and 1.5 million public
