Liberal co-chair Blaga proposes 10-year partnership with ethnic Hungarian party

National Liberal Party Co-Chair Vasile Blaga proposed a 10-year partnership to the Hungarian Democrat Union of Romania (UDMR) on Friday, in the opening of the ethnic Hungarian party's congress in Cluj-Napoca.

Photo credit: (c) Simion MECHNO / AGERPRES FLOW

'"My message to you, my dear colleagues of the UDMR, is let us work together, the new PNL [National Liberal Party, in the Opposition] and the UDMR, to reach this goal Romania faces for the next decade ? reaching a living and development level that would place Romania at the European Union average. I have heard many saying Romania no longer has a major goal to concentrate its energies, but the project I stated is obvious, logic and urgent; because for reaching it I propose you to work together, whether both in the Opposition now or coming to govern at some point. Thus, I propose you to lay the foundations of a long-term partnership, on at least 10 years. We have some shared assets, we have the experience of excellent collaboration both in the opposition and governing," Blaga told the UDMR Congress.

He asserted that the UDMR was the true representative of the interests of ethnic Hungarians and praised its contribution over its 25 years of existence.

"I wish to congratulate all those who assumed over these years the Union's leadership, especially two people ? Marko Bela and Kelemen Hunor [former and current UDMR heads, respectively; family names first according to Hungarian rules], with which I had an excellent collaboration. I think, on the scale of Romanian democracy history, the 25 years with the UDMR mean a lot. Throughout these years, the UDMR had a major contribution to raising the awareness of human and minorities' rights, to the professionalization of the Romanian politics and...