President Iohannis begins consultations with parliamentary parties at Cotroceni Palace

The consultations between President Klaus Iohannis and the parliamentary parties on defence funding have kicked off at the presidential Cotroceni Palace early on Monday.

Photo credit: (c) Grigore POPESCU / AGERPRES FLOW

The talks were started by the ruling Social Democrats (PSD), with the head of state to meet afterwards the representatives of the National Liberal Party (PNL), the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR), the Conservative Party (PC), the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR), the national minorities group and Dan Diaconescu-People's Party (PP-DD).

According to the President's Office, the talks are aimed at forging a political agreement aimed to provide at least 2 percent of gross domestic product to the National Defence Ministry starting 2017.

'I propose all the political factors, both in government and in opposition to clearly pledge maintaining this minimum goal for at least ten years, so that we might ensure the predictability of military expenditure, particularly as regards training and the strategic procurement programmes', Iohannis told a ceremony in which Lieutenant General Nicolae-Ionel Ciuca took up as the new Chief of Staff last week.AGERPRES