President Klaus Iohannis has welcomed on Monday his German counterpart Joachim Gauck who is on a state visit to Romania.
President Klaus Iohannis and his wife, Carmen Iohannis, have welcomed Joachim Gauck and his partner Daniela Schadt, at the Cotroceni Palace.
President Klaus Iohannis said the Romanian-German relationship is very good, starting at the top-most political level and going to economic relations which are getting better and better.
“For us it’s a great joy that you’ve visited, after, Mr. Federal President, I had a visit that I classified as very good some months ago when I was in Berlin. I believe that today we have the occasion to discuss about more things that join us, about things we have in common and about the opportunities that we have in the Romanian-German relationship, a relationship that is very good, starting at the top-most political level and going to the economic relations that are getting better and better, and I am very glad that, in this sense, we will address businessmen jointly,” said Klaus Iohannis at the beginning of talks with German counterpart Joachim Gauck.
NATO summit, anticorruption, bilateral relations approached
The NATO Summit in Warsaw must send a strong message of solidarity, unity and cohesion, said President Klaus Iohannis, in a joint press conference with his German counterpart, Joachim Gauck, in which he pleaded again for a “balanced and proportional strengthening of the eastern flank,” of the Alliance.
The head of state assured Joachim Gauck that “Romania remains committed to the European project and attaches great importance to bilateral cooperation to promote the common interests at EU level.”
Joachim Gauck has said that his presence in Bucharest is a “visit among friends” and praised the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) fort the efforts to fight corruption.
The German President noted that Romania has recorded “significant achievements” in strengthening the judiciary and said that from the DNA starts a “signal pointing not only to the economic and business environment, but also to the political one.”
“(…) The judiciary is able to offer solutions to existing problems. I would like to particularly stress the activity of the National Anticorruption Directorate which shows signals not only to the economic area, to the business environment, but also to the political area. We are very serious about the important pillar of the rule of law in the process of transformation and we consider even potential conflicts that might emerge inside the society, because we are backing up the activity of those fighting against corruption and making justice strong as the third state power; we are serious about all this,” the Presidential Administration says in a press statement ,” said the German President, according to the Presidential Administration.
Initially, the official translation from German to Romanian said that the German President would have said that ‘we wish to consolidate, for instance, the activity of the DNA, as a third power in the state’.
After that, the Presidential Administration claimed mistranslation, stating that translation was provided by the German Embassy in Bucharest.
The Romanian head of state noted that Germany is been for many years Romania’s first European partner and the third foreign investor.
Regarding the migration crisis, Klaus Iohannis said again that Romania supports a “common European response,” based on solidarity.
Related to the Republic of Moldova – another topic on the agenda of discussions between the two heads of state – the Romanian president showed that maintaining the stability and the European path of the Eastern neighbour is a priority for Bucharest.
The official talks also approached the important role of the German minority in Romania, together with the Romanian community in Germany, the latter being one of the best integrated in the German labour market.
The German head of state will have a meeting at the Victoria Palace with Premier Dacian Ciolos and a joint meeting, in Parliament, with Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu and with the ad-interim Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Florin Iordache.
On Tuesday, President Gauck will hold the speech “Europe: passion for reason” at the National Library of Romania, after which he will travel to Sibiu, together with President Iohannis. The two will meet representatives of the German minority, they will visit the Brukenthal Highschool and the Fortified Church at Cisnadie.
Iohannis and Gauck will participate, on Wednesday, in a meeting with German and Romanian businessmen, in order to discuss the means of continuous development of bilateral economic trade, including investments.