PM Citu deems partnership with President of Romania, stronger than ever

Prime Minister Florin Citu, candidate for the National Liberal Party (PNL) chair, reminded, on Wednesday evening, the party members from Calarasi that the partnership with the Romanian president is "stronger than ever" and that their duty is to choose the best leader. "We talked in this campaign about the fantastic result achieved by President Klaus Iohannis last year in the negotiations at the European Commission, 80 billion euros. This partnership is stronger than ever and brought Romania, not to us, Liberals, the chance to develop with a record amount. This is just the beginning," Citu said. The prime minister mentioned that the Liberals' responsibility is to turn European funds into investments. "Someone has to invest this money [80 billion euros, ed. n] in the economy, someone has to attract them, do projects. This is our responsibility, the Liberals'. That's why I said you have to prepare for at least eight years of government, because this is the cycle of this money, which is coming until 2028. We have added to this amount at least 13 billion euros a year from the national budget. We are talking about over 130 billion euros by 2028, given that Romania's GDP today is 200 billion euros," specified Florin Citu. In this context, he explained the importance of the PNL elections. "This is our responsibility, of the PNL, and it will not be easy. That is why it was important to have this campaign, to choose the best leaders, because the hardship only now begins. Romania still has to attract from the previous financial year some 12-13 billion euros. We also have this money that we did not take. I will never allow as long as I am in this position to have money in my account and not to be able to use it," the candidate to the PNL presidency also said. During his address, Florin Citu mentioned the measures he took as Romania's prime minister so that mayoralties have easier access to European funds and stressed the importance of the "Anghel Saligny" National Investment Plan (PNI). "All the projects and decisions we took at the Government were not for the mayors, for the PNL members. We take them for the Romanians. PNI is not my own personal plan or yours, of the mayors. It is a plan for Romania's development. You [the mayors, ed. n] will implement it and use these resources to make life better for Romanians," mentioned the Prime Minister of Romania. Florin Citu presented on Wednesday, in Calarasi, the motion with which he will run for the PNL presidency at the party's congress on September 25. AGERPRES (RO - author: Luisiana Bigea, editor: Karina Olteanu; EN - editor: Simona Iacob)