PM Orban says Ministry of Youth and Sport wasting away its big assets

At a ceremony on Tuesday where incoming Minister of Youth and Sports Ionut Stroe took over his ministerial portfolio, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said the ministry has big assets that it wastes away, adding that many of the dilapidated public sports facilities can contribute to financing various sports disciplines. 

"I am happy to be here today and to participate in the official installation of the Minister of Youth and Sport, Mr Ionut Stroe. I know that there are some very important things, namely preparations for the European Football Championship, to which we pay the highest of attentions. There are also the Olympic Games. Financing demands here are probably different, especially for the disciplines where Romanian athletes will compete. There are a few things to solve, (...), the big assets that the MTS [Ministry of Sports and Youth] owns and that it is now wasting away, honestly. I have been to different facilities left dilapidated that no one uses, assets that if used smartly could even finance sports. Not to mention what each sport needs, which is training facilities," Orban said at the MTS headquarters. 

In the area of youth affairs, Orban believes that there are certain organisations that have lost any representation: "And in terms of supporting youth organisations, there are a few things that need to be clarified, because we have kept organisations in place for 30 years out of inertia that were created in the turbulent years after the Revolution and that have lost all representation and need to be clarified." 

Deputy Prime Minister Raluca Turcan spoke about the need for a strategy for MTS to stop the "drain" of young people. 

Also attending the ceremony were several chairs of sports federations including Vasile Citea of the Romanian Boxing Federation; Elisabeta Lipa of the Romanian Rowing Federation; Razvan Burleanu of the Romanian Football Federation; Cristinel Romanescu of the Romanian Table Tennis Federation; Nicu Vlad of the Romanian Weightlifting Federation; Alin Petrache of the Romanian Rugby Federation; Camelia Potec of the Romanian Swimming and Modern Pentathlon Federation; Razvan Pircalabu of the Romanian Wrestling Federation; Irina Deleanu of the Romanian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation; Gheorghe Visan of the Romanian Volleyball Federation, as well as the chair of the National Anti-Doping Agency Cristian Balaj, and Chairman the Romanian Olympic Committee Mihai Covaliu.