Iohannis, last speech as president, on National Day: I know I made mistakes. I ask for your forgiveness / What he said about the elections

Klaus Iohannis apologized to Romanians for the decisions he made and did not sufficiently explain in his final speech as president of Romania on National Day, held on Saturday at the Cotroceni Palace. The president took stock of the ten years he spent in office and urged Romanians to go out to vote, emphasizing the need to preserve Romania’s European and Euro-Atlantic path.

“Dear Romanians, this year has been a busy electoral year. There are two more rounds of elections to come, parliamentary and presidential, crucial moments that will define, more than in other elections in the past, the direction Romania will take in the coming years,” Klaus Iohannis declared on Saturday at the Cotroceni Palace.

“The results of the vote a week ago, however, have brought us to a new moment of balance. Tomorrow’s elections and those to come will not only be about policies and visions of the left, right or center. We are not voting to sanction or reward anyone, but we are voting to remain a country of freedom and openness or to collapse into toxic isolation and a dark past,” said the head of state.He stressed that, in this last decade, Romania has made huge steps forward. “We have invested massively in infrastructure, modernized public institutions and significantly strengthened national security in a world marked by heightened instability. We have tried together to build a fairer and more prosperous country. We have witnessed the transformation of our health and education systems, but we certainly still have much to improve.The fact is that today’s Romania is firmly committed to the path towards progress, but it is not immune to challenges and potential crises”, Klaus Iohannis pointed out.

The President warned that the future of Romania depends on each of us and that “we must not forget that voting is a right that our fellow citizens fought for, some paying for it with blood, 35 years ago.” “In an era in which we see an alarming increase in extremism, populism and disinformation, it is all the more important to firmly reject, by voting first and foremost, the false pacifying discourse, which in fact hides an anti-European vision. Politicians who embrace these approaches want to divide, to create social ruptures and deep wounds, that is, a society in total opposition to the one that managed to achieve the Great Union in 1918,” said the President of Romania. “There are no perfect politicians or messianic personalities who possess miraculous solutions to the problems that citizens face. Those who claim to have them will, sooner or later, cause Romania to derail from its deeply democratic path. And this means for all of us less freedom, more suffering, deprivation and the loss of rights that are now guaranteed”, Klaus Iohannis also said.

The President stated that each stage in Romania’s recent history has had its challenges, and in the last ten years we have gone through “crises that were not only very serious, but also overlapped and tested our resilience and adaptability to the maximum.” “The threats during my first term to the rule of law and democratic institutions, which today some barely want to remember, the COVID-19 pandemic, with all its dramatic consequences, including economic and social, the security risks generated by the war launched by Russia against Ukraine are just a few major moments that have marked the last decade,” President Iohannis added. He noted that, through efforts and cohesion, through decisions and measures taken, Romania has become stronger, more stable, more consolidated at the institutional level.

The head of state pointed out that his most important initiative in the field of education and research, the “Educated Romania” project, “the most extensive post-December consultation in the field, resulted in the promulgation of the new education laws, which set the framework for the reform of the education system”. Iohannis specified that the results of the reforms are not seen overnight, but over time, and the change will be visible with the new generations who will take the national exams.

Regarding the European Union, he stated that Romania had, during his two mandates, an active role in the process of consolidating the European project, contributing, at the same time, to increasing the solidarity and cohesion of the Union. “Thus, through constant involvement, the Republic of Moldova is today closer to fulfilling its European dream, and we, Romanians, from both banks of the Prut, will find ourselves together in the great European family. At the same time, I have constantly argued during the meetings of the European Council that we need concrete actions for the benefit of citizens”, declared Iohannis.

He also said that, thanks to the involvement in his last mandate, “we today have access to impressive amounts made available by the European Union”. “I was a fervent promoter of the rule of law and I committed myself to fighting for an independent judiciary, because only through integrity can we build a society in which every citizen feels protected and respected. The completion of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, an objective of Romania, meant a significant success for all of us and reconfirmed the strong pro-European commitment and the progress that our country has made in the field of justice reform and the fight against corruption”, stated Klaus Iohannis.

President Klaus Iohannis said Saturday night at a reception for Romania’s National Day that he was asking Romanians for forgiveness for the mistakes they had made. “I know I made mistakes, some choices in which I invested hope and trust did not stand the test of time, and I disappointed some of you. I apologize for making decisions over time that have displeased you and that I most likely did not explain sufficiently. Time cannot be turned back, but I assure you that all my efforts and actions were based on one thing: identifying the best solutions for Romania’s security, well-being and prosperity,” Iohannis said.