This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BUCHAREST 003500
SIPDIS
STATE DEPT FOR EUR/NCE - WILLIAM SILKWORTH
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL RO
SUBJECT: INAUGURATION SPEECH DELIVERED BY NEWLY ELECTED
ROMANIAN PRESIDENT TRAIAN BASESCU
1. On December 20, 2004, before a joint session of
Parliament, newly elected Romanian President Traian Basescu
delivered his inauguration speech.
2. The text of Embassy Bucharest's unofficial translation of
President Basescu's inauguration speech follows below:
"Mr. President of the Senate, Mr. President of the Chamber
of Deputies, President Ion Iliescu, distinguished MPs of
Romania, distinguished representatives of the Diplomatic
Core, distinguished representatives of the Church, esteemed
citizens, dear compatriots:
Through the democratic will of the people, I have been
elected President of Romania. This vote leads me to have
greater respect for what I stated when I launched my
candidacy for the supreme function of the state - to assure
the citizens of this country once again that I will be the
President of all Romanians, a powerful, impartial, active
President, who will dedicate himself 24 hours a day, seven
days a week to the Romanian nation.
This is my promise to the Romanian people. I assure you
that the next five years of my Presidential term in office
will be years in which Romania will become a different
country, a functional country, through applying and
respecting the laws, a country which will be made noteworthy
through its people. The Romanian nation needs a President
who will represent it with dignity, who will work closely
with state institutions in order to get Romania out of the
sewer of poverty and corruption. I will consider that I
have succeeded in my mandate if I succeed in uniting the
entire population around the objectives of domestic and
foreign policies. We cannot talk about dignifying
integration in the E.U. without solving the major problems
of Romania - corruption and poverty.
Dear MPs, I assure you that I will collaborate well with
state institutions to fight the corruption and poverty that
has been eating away at society, at the Romanian public and
at the political system. Corruption at a high level
provokes poverty. These are two things that are necessary
to one another - corruption and poverty. Right now,
corruption at a high level represents the most serious
danger to [our] national security. We don't need to mask
poverty under statistics. Too many retired people have
pensions smaller than their heating bills in the winter.
Too many peasants live in poverty, no matter how rich the
crops are. Too many young people have begun to believe that
Romania is no longer a country that has opportunities. This
reality must be changed.
To enter life as a poor young person because of an unjust
system of promotions and careers is the heaviest burden that
a young Romanian can bear. Millions of retired people need
a healthy old age, which must be protected by a health
insurance system meant to help them, not to bring the ill
and the old to desperation when they need medicines and,
equally, respect for their years of work. As President of
the Supreme Council of National Defense, I will include the
fight against high-level corruption in the strategy of
defending the country. A fundamental priority of my mandate
will also be removing state institutions from political
control. I will not accept any political interference in
state institutions, which must function according to the
Constitution and the laws of the country. They must be
immediately de-politicized and put at the service of the
citizens. Messrs. MPs, the acute differences between the
rural and the urban environments are another major problem
of our society.
I want to assure you and all the citizens of this country
that there are not several Romanias - there are merely
politicians who slice Romania up according to their parties'
interests and their power of influence. As President of the
state, I will defend and promote the interests of every
Romanian citizen, be that citizen peasant, townsman, member
of some minority group, child, youngster, pensioner, woman,
man, rich or poor. I will be the President of all Romanians
in one and the same Romania. I will mediate the
relationship with the Parliament stubbornly and in good
faith. We need a Parliament that is active and reactive to
the signals from this country's citizens. We must act in
such a manner that Romanians begin to trust the political
and law institutions of the Romanian state, after 15 years.
I will militate for a Parliament that will be an institution
that represents the interests of those who have chosen it,
and not a mechanism for the interests of political party
clients. I will be a dedicated defender of the freedom of
the press, which in recent years has experienced serious
setbacks due to unparalleled political constraints and
pressures, applied against the Romanian media. Confiscating
the freedom of the press is the first step to confiscating
the freedoms of the citizens.
The successes of democracy cannot take place without the
existence of a free press, the right to speech and the
freedom of expression. I want to assure you that the new
President of Romania will support civil society. Romania
needs its civil society to step up its pace in the role of
defender and promoter of the rights of every citizen.
Education, religion, and culture are the surest and
steadiest gates by which the Romanian spirit may enter the
family of universal spirits.
I will defend the strategic interests of Romania where
foreign policy is concerned and I will make our country a
partner with a highly regarded word. I will open the
horizons of Romania's foreign policy to all cardinal points,
in a moment when our country needs allies, partners, and
friends in all the democratic countries of the world. A
major priority in foreign policy and in the positive
evolution of Romania is integration into the European Union.
Integration into the European Union is an element of power
in the foreign policy of Romania. The integration process
will include both the values of an action based on
cooperation with the European Commission, and the values of
making the best of the traditional bilateral relations that
Romania has with countries such as France, Germany, Spain,
Italy, Hungary, Poland, Italy and many other European
countries. It is extremely clear that now, after ending the
negotiations for integration, the fight for integration
takes place inside Romania. Here is the place where we must
fulfill the obligations assumed by Romania's government in
the process of negotiations. The tough fight to integrate
into the E.U. must be won at home. Here is where we must
obtain the standards of economic and social compatibility
with the European Union.
Another priority in Romania's foreign policy will be to
consolidate our position in NATO. It is essential for
Romania to obtain a position and an influence that reflect
its real value in this organization, but that also reflect
its value as a country able to ensure stability south of the
Danube and east of the Prut River, developing good relations
with the countries of the former Yugoslavia, with Ukraine
and with Russia.
We must bear in mind that there are more than six million
Romanians who have become citizens of other countries, such
as Canada, Australia, the U.S., Germany, France, Spain,
Italy and many other countries of the world. We have a duty
to re-establish relations with the Romanian diaspora. We
have a duty to make these people, who have left their
country for one reason or another, feel that the mother-
country mourns for them, that their origin country treats
them with respect, that Romania is a modern state, a
powerful state, a state that respects foreign citizens of
Romanian origins, making them feel that they are part of the
Romanian people. The Republic of Moldova will benefit from
all the openness of the authorities in Bucharest, both in
the processes of modernizing the country and in bolstering
the sense that part of that country's people are a part of
the Romanian people.
Above these priorities, Romania will develop privileged
relations with the U.S. and Great Britain, countries with
which a strategic partnership has developed even since 1995.
Distinguished MPs, we all have a very important mission. If
the politicians don't explain to the citizens what the costs
of the integration process are, it can be transformed into a
failure. We need solidarity regarding integration, in order
for every citizen to accept the costs of this process. We
need an integration process under which the Romanian people
will be united, to be able to enjoy the benefits of joining
the E.U. I want us to be united in one common effort, and
supported by the modernization of the economy based on the
principles of rule of law; a dignified Romania, trusting its
future. Belonging to one political party or another must
not prevent us from working together for the citizens who
have invested us with equal amounts of power and
responsibility.
Please allow me to say a special word to the young
Parliamentarians. Dear novice Parliamentarians, I want to
assure you of one thing: I have great confidence in you,
regardless of your political affiliation. Your promotion to
the superior forum of this country leads me to congratulate
all those party presidents who nominated you to the
Parliamentary lists. I have always been a supporter of
rejuvenating the political class, against many skeptical
voices. This is why, to convince these skeptics, my wish is
that you will be my main collaborators, and I urge you to
consider me your supporter. First, you must transform this
institution, the Parliament, into a force and an engine of
social, political, economical, cultural changes. I have
confidence that you will be active and courageous and that
you will make all of us who are citizens of this country
recognize and change the image of the Romanian politician.
I thank you for being here and I hope that you will keep the
freshness of your minds and souls.
Parliamentarians, dear Romanians, citizens of my country, I
ask you to be near me in the next 5 years. I bear in my
soul the flag of Romania and you around it. You have my
word as President that I will serve you with power, good
faith, and trust. We will be together during all trials and
difficulties, but above all we will be together in a better
life, marked by victories and success. We will live well,
in a Romania of Romanians, a European Romania. So help us
God!" End text.
3. Amembassy Bucharest's reporting telegrams, as well as
daily press summaries, are available on the Bucharest
SIPRNet website: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/bucharest
CROUCH