UPDATE Iohannis: Question for politicians is whether they continue to promise a lot and deliver little

Romania is facing a century since the most important achievement of the Romanians - the fathering of the national unity, and the politicians must answer whether they will go on promising a lot and delivering little, President Klaus Iohannis said in the plenary session of the Joint Chambers of Parliament devoted to the celebration of the Greater Union Centennial.

"On 1 December 1918, Iuliu Maniu was wondering at Alba Iulia what his generation could do to rise to the fulfillment of such an ideal. With the privilege of being the President of Romania during the Centennial, I take on the emotional interrogation of the Transylvanian leader, maker of the Greater Union and I ask you, the nation's elected representatives. How can we be worthy of the accomplishments of a hundred years ago? Today, the question to be answered by politicians, regardless of party or doctrine, is whether they will continue to promise much and deliver little or if they will have the courage and the responsibility to lay the foundations for Romania's development in the second Centennial. I believe that the answer to this question can point to the sources of national dignity and cohesion," the president said.

Kalus Iohannis underscored that people have great expectations for Romania's future and legitimate expectations from the ones ruling it.

"All the more, at the Centennial, the Romanians expect a governance at the level of the legacy we were entrusted with, they want honest, responsible political leaders setting ambitious political objectives for Romania, not their fleeting interests," the president asserted.

Klaus Iohannis mentioned that the Centennial is not only an occasion to honour our history, but also a moment of reflection, "when we should ask ourselves with all honesty if we claimed the spot we deserve within the world's countries."

"Are we heading in the correct direction or are we on a wrong path, that will lead us in an entirely different direction than the one we wish to get to as a nation? The 100-year anniversary of our country finds us at a crossroad for Romania's destiny in the next centennial. The century we have passed through was not at all easy, but in the last decades we made some progress. We live in a free society, with stable institutions and we are connected through a broad strategic partnership with the most powerful democracy of the world, the USA. We are a NATO member, enjoying all the security benefits resulting from this status and we are EU members, too, integrated in the large family of the nations, as our forebears had dreamed about," he added.

Klaus Iohannis emphasised that the Greater Union was and is "more than the defining momentum of a people that was democratically finding its natural state framework." In this sense, he mentioned that the Greater Union was domestically tendering rights and liberties expected by everybody, and was internationally supporting the primacy of the right to the universal force and brotherhood principle.

"We are celebrating today a century since the Romanians' most important achievement - the fathering of the national unity. The intellectual and political elites of the dawn of the 20th century impress us with their example of vision, their commitment and sacrifice. It is about Romania's sovereigns, its prime ministers, its politicians from the Romanian Kingdom, from Transylvania, Bessarabia or Bucovina. It is about scientists and culture people, as it is about noted shepherds of the Romanian people's spirituality. They have all remained in the memory of the nation, because they have pursued with tenacity the accomplishment of the national projects and aspirations," he stressed.AGERPRES(RO - author: Irinela Visan, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Maria Voican, editor: Simona Iacob)