President Nicusor Dan on Monday called, at the 1 December reception at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace, for a tempering of public discourse, criticising the spread of slogans and the radicalisation of debate, and emphasising the need for calm and balanced discussions on society's challenges.
"The easiest course for any politician is to select two or three of these issues, turn them into slogans and parade them from morning until night. And there are indeed some who do exactly that. Sadly, our public space has become polluted by this torrent of slogans, some of which have escalated into shouting and even screaming. This is why I am inviting everyone to lower the volume, and to discuss the problems facing our society calmly and with balance without attempting to hide them, but while maintaining our composure and sense of proportion," Nicusor Dan said in his speech.
The president called for balance and lucidity in assessing the present, "precisely so that we can adjust both our expectations and our hopes".
"We are living worse than last year. But we are living far better than we were 20 years ago. And we are living better than many people in the countries neighbouring us. Romania is a corrupt country, and Romanians are right when they say they do not see a willingness on the part of the Romanian state to fight corruption, and they are also right to be outraged that corrupt people appear on television giving moral lessons. Still, we are less corrupt than we were 20 years ago," the head of state said.
Nicusor Dan addressed several areas, including education and healthcare, and argued that "we could have been much further ahead and living much better than we do today".
"It is also true that in recent months we have not seen corruption at the top of the Romanian state. We have many areas of excellence in education, but overall the education system is weak to very weak. And this can cause us major problems in the future. The healthcare system is far, very far, from where it could have been with all the money we have poured into it," he said.
At the same time, the president stated that "we have a very dynamic, high-performing private economy, which has managed to double Romania's GDP in 10 years, but we have a very large trade deficit and we do not currently have a genuine economic policy".
The head of state recalled that a year ago, presidential elections in Romania were annulled, "and this created doubt regarding democracy in Romania".
"A year ago, Romania annulled presidential elections, and this created doubt about democracy in Romania, both among Romanian citizens and among our partners. In the meantime, however, we have much evidence that these elections were illegally influenced, and much evidence that, over the past 10 years, Russia has been conducting a campaign of disinformation and manipulation in Romania and in Europe. But we still do not have a complete report on what happened a year ago. We are members of the European Union and, thanks to this position, Romania has received around 100 billion euros. Yet, on many occasions, Romania's voice has not been heard within the Union, and there have been cases, such as the Schengen case, where Romania was clearly treated unfairly. Nonetheless, we have shown the maturity, which we have exercised in recent months, to negotiate and to assert our position on technical matters concerning Romania," President Dan said.
He also addressed Romania's diaspora.
"We have five million Romanians who have left the country, either because of material conditions or because they felt unfairly treated here, but they are a calling card for Romania and an enormous potential for Romania, to the extent that we manage to maintain a fair relationship with them," the president stressed.
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