Romania's President Traian Basescu started his address to the Parliament at 7pm. The speech follows the government's announcement to take responsibility of three controversial law packs: the laws on education, unique salary scheme law and that on the reorganization of governmental agencies.

Here are President Basescu's main declarations:

This is an important day for Romania and a maturity test for the whole political class as the government assumed responsibility for three laws that will reform the stateThis is a radical change, which Romania was in need of, and which Romanians have been expecting for many yearsI acknowledge the courage of the governing coalition to assume responsibility on some important laws Any law is bound to be amendable but the current laws are build on principles that cannot be contestedI believe that our country could have suffered less from the crisis if the political class initiated reform immediately after Romania joined the EU The biggest privilege that I can have is to be President of this country I had the honor, since 2004 to be Romania's President and help my country move forwardNo one can deny that in the last years the country evolved and new opportunities emergedThere have been legitimate debates over the decision taken during my mandate but I never made any compromisesI never hesitated to criticize those institutions or politicians who blocked the essential reforms I may have had my share of mistakes but I always took the best decision for the people. I wanted to be a player, not a spectatorJoining the EU brought about an economic increase due to investments and an increase of the national prestige. EU membership helped us reduce the costs of the economic crisis Five years ago, in the Romanian economy, work was not encouraged. I believe that the unique VAT of 16% improved the life of the Romanians In my fou