According to the President, Romania is faring well, based on the way in which it exited the crisis, but it all depends on not endlessly hiking taxes.
President Traian Basescu stated on Thursday in Brussels, at the end of the EU-Africa Summit, that it is extremely important for Romania to return to Africa, adding that our country is faring well judging by the way in which it exited the crisis, but it all depends on not endlessly hiking the taxes. “I tried it before the Arab Spring, by traveling to Egypt, Libya; however now that this wave of destabilization has passed, we should probably return to the project of returning to Africa,” Basescu said, being quoted by Mediafax. He pointed out that this is a market on which Romania can be extremely competitive, adding in this context that “it’s a pity not to broaden our horizons.”
“We have got used to self-flagellating ourselves,” the President stated, pointing out that at European Union level the industrial sector contributes to 15 per cent of GDP, while in Romania the industrial sector’s contribution stands at 30 per cent of GDP.
“We have to boost our industrial capacities, because everyone has grown convinced that one cannot live for long out of services, one cannot guarantee prosperity, jobs, without also having an industry with lots of SMEs to serve it,” the President pointed out. According to the Head of State, Romania is well positioned from this point of view, and from many other points of view, considering the way in which Romania recovered from the crisis, having a liberalized labour force market given the liberalisation introduced in the changes brought to the Labour Code, an education law that recreates the dual education system whose results will appear in a few years’ time.On the other hand, Basescu pointed out that the issue of the debts owed by African countries to Romania was not discussed at the EU-Africa Summit because this is a bilateral issue. He recalled the moment of the visit he paid to Libya in November 2006, back when he discussed with Muammar Gaddafi about the debt Libya owes to Romania. According to Basescu, Gaddafi allegedly told him back then that he owed debts to Ceausescu, not to Romania.
