President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday hit out at politicians who “left hospitals without resources… and systematically destroyed public infrastructure“ who are encouraging Romanians to flout lockdown rules imposed during the state of emergency.
Iohannis said politicians could help with advice and ideas but “can’t instigate (people) not to follow measures taken to protect citizens’ lives and health,” he said after authorities confirmed more than 7,700 cases of coronavirus and 372 deaths.
“Any gesture and attitude that goes against the recommendations of specialists is reckless and can have tragic consequences!” he said.
People “understand …. that, regardless of their political preferences, they are relieved that Romania is not governed today, during this profound crisis, by a coalition that prioritized the theft of public funds and shirked responsibility,” Iohannis said.
He said the government values experts recommendations and lets professionals do their job.
Iohannis recalled that when the COVID-19 crisis broke out, he appealed to politicians “to abandon demagogic speech and to not attempt to gain electoral capital out of people’s suffering.”
“It is unacceptable and repulsive to see those who left the hospitals without resources, pushed competent people out of the country, and systematically destroyed entire public service infrastructures, give lessons today,” Iohannis said.
“How do you categorize a political leader who questions the need for a state of emergency or conditions the vote in Parliament, which is needed for the decree to come into effect, conditions the vote on adopting measures that are impossible to implement?,” Iohannis asked.
This week, Romania’s largest party, the Social Democratic Party chairman Marcel Ciolacu blamed the Government for the insufficient measures for supporting the economic recovery after the epidemic ends.
The party asked for more testing as a prerequisite for business to resume and asked the government to implement measures to protect jobs and households. Some politicians say Romanians should be able to publicly celebrate Orthodox Easter on April 19, something that Iohannis opposes, saying it will lead to “funerals.”
Iohannis said the crisis offered some “painful lessons” about the need to restructure the public services in order to eliminate cronyism and support vital areas.
He said that “only with a sustained effort and maximum mobilization did we manage to adapt rapidly and take all the needed measures to keep the epidemic under control. Otherwise, the number of victims would have been bigger in Romania.”
He argued that Romania’s future could not be jeopardized “because a parliamentary majority that lacks any legitimacy votes today in a populist manner measures without any economic support. It is completely immoral to lay the burden of aberrant measures promoted by irresponsible people on the shoulders of tomorrow’s generation,” he said.
Iohannis also praised the leaders of local authorities who collaborate with the civil society and the business sector to find the best solutions for their community, regardless of the political party they belong to.
