Ex-PM Ciolos: If we wait for PSD to disappear by itself, we will see it return in other shapes

Former Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos on Saturday told the participants in the National Convention of the Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (PLUS) that, if they were to wait for the PSD (Social Democratic Party, part of the ruling coalition) to disappear by itself, through political self-destruction, they might have the "surprise" of watching it return "in other shapes".

"We will lay the principles of good governance and good community collaboration at the grounds of our society." We will form strong and involved local communities to show the citizens they can do it. For we need concrete examples for those who lost their faith that things could change and only then we can say we truly succeeded. At the bottom of its society, Romania is not divided. We all want the same thing, but we do not know how to get it. There are no such camps like "in favour of the PDS" and "against the PSD," there are only people with their needs, who want to live better. And we are the ones who need to give them a hand and not to judge them, for such judgments are artificially tearing the community apart. This is how we will definitely overcome the cleavages and hatred because of political choices. If we expect PSD to disappear through political self-destruction we can have the surprise of see it return in other shapes. Only by changing the mentalities and behaviors at the bottom of our society we can come out of this trap of politicians who divide and incite hate. This is what we want PLUS to bring into Romanian society," Ciolos said.

He added that he wants PLUS to be an open party in which all who want to participate in social reconstruction are welcome.

"We are proposing a political motion, a programmatic motion. We are starting to build our project around a national strategy of sustainable welfare, which is the basis of this programmatic motion - a sustainable welfare that is only achievable by a type of education that builds personalities capable of assuming one's own becoming and their own opinions, an education that succeeds when it stimulates critical thinking, when society reinvents its way of organizing and stimulates entrepreneurship and creativity. This must happen in rural areas as well and in the urban area," said Dacian Ciolos.