Financiarul

‘In my opinion, this crisis was also a measurement of our abilities to overcome hardships. And I can assure you that we will prevail. The crisis has already bottomed out and we are now starting to recover toward economic growth. Economic growth will resume in the second quarter of 201 0,’ the President said. He added that the Romanian economy has consolidated in the 20 years since the 1989 anti¬communist revolution.

‘There is an economic crisis going on, but the entire world is also in its throes; there is less production in the world and small wages. We will come out of this crisis with a conviction that not even a crisis can defeat us, not even a big economic crisis, because Romania has left behind the stage when it was highly vulnerable.
In the 20 years since the revolution, the Romanian economy has developed enough for the income of Romanians to increase reasonably so that we may have an easier time overcoming hardships. We cannot be worse after the crisis is over. It is clear that we will take off,’ said Basescu.

Mentioning the time of his term in office, Basescu said that in the past five years the average wage has increased from RON 830 to RON 1,835 and the average pension went up from RON 230 to RON 715. ‘The population’s income has increased. Romania in 2009 is no longer what it was in 2004. And yet I believe that my wish for a better life to Romanians has come true. In another five years’ time the wage and pension rise will be twice as good as from 2004 to 2009.

It is not possible to say that we can work a miracle overnight for a better life. Yet, we can add some more to improving our lives each year,’ said Basescu. He also insisted that living conditions in the countryside have to improve and in some years’ time 30 regional warehouses should be created, stressing the importance of enlarging land under irrigation and creating processing lines for food in rural areas.

He added that teachers and doctors should be stimulated to remain in the countryside, suggesting that the Government should secure them a place to stay while practicing in the countryside. Basescu pointed out that only two percent of the children schooled in the countryside succeed in enrolling with universities, blaming the situation on poor public education quality in rural areas.