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The anniversary of the Centennial must be a moment of "national awakening and rebirth," of changing attitudes and mentality in addressing the fundamental problems of the nation, for the benefit of the present, but especially of the future, Minister of Culture and National Identity George Ivascu said on Thursday evening at the "Romania at the Centennial" debate, organized by the Presidential Administration.
"This year, unique for Romania, we commemorate those who, a hundred years ago, succeeded in realizing a seemingly impossible dream: the unification of all Romanians. (...) The miracle of union was not done under easy conditions. They succeeded because they acted together. Honouring forerunners is beautiful, but not enough, because the inheritance they left us is not just a gift but also a duty. To pay homage to the forerunners means, first of all, to celebrate their spirit. They shared one thing: they all wanted a united and democratic Romania," he said.
George Ivascu expressed his conviction that "one of the most precious and delicate goods" of the nation is represented by the Romanian culture, "the main support for the coagulation and unity of a nation. It creates stability and dignity, and as we respect it we capitalize on it we are respected in the universal context. It is one of the fundamental problems of any nation, because it gives us balance, value and European and universal identity, and I affirm here, with all my strength: in my view, if we want to fulfill our major goals and desiderata, as a state and a nation, we can only make every effort to achieve national consensus and cohesion, based on real principles and values, through permanent, multidisciplinary dialogue and total transparency of any action. All these must rely, firstly, as an active and essential driving force, on the elite of this country, on the body of experts and specialists in each field, but also on the opinions and needs invoked by civil society or local or ethnic communities and, last but not least, of any citizen of good faith. In fact, culture is a priority of ours, of all, and, ultimately, of the Romanian destiny," the minister pointed out.
AGERPRES .
