President Traian Basescu on Friday estimated that it would be difficult for Romania to reach some targets set by the Europe 2020 Strategy, saying that, for example, the target related to the allocation of 3% of GDP on research, cannot be met. "I think it will be extremely difficult for Romania to reach some targets that would be as close as possible to what the European Commission proposes. For example, the objective of allocating 3% of GDP on research and innovation is a target we cannot meet, I think, and we will have to determine what level we can reach," Traian Băsescu said in a debate on the new EU strategy, which continues the Lisbon Agenda.
The President said that the 3% for research and innovation should come in proportion of 1% from public money and 2% from private money. "If, for the Government, it would not be a problem to allocate 1%, at least scriptically, in the state budget, for the private sector to come up with a contribution of 2% is evidently extremely difficult," the President said. Furthermore, Băsescu said that, even if these resources can be found, the matter under discussion is Romania's research infrastructure. "What kind of research infrastructure do we have? How would we use these 3% if we had it? Is our research able to focus on major objectives and have results in due time if such an effort is made by the State and by the private sector? This is a question we must answer by 29 April. I will not make any considerations on the answer to the question whether we can efficiently use
3% of GDP for research because I would not like to give first page titles for tomorrow, but I am convinced that you, most of you, know the answer to the question," said Băsescu.
On the other hand, Băsescu showed optimism about another target of the 2020 Strategy in 2020, on reducing the school dropout percentage. "As regards school drop
