Ex-PM Ciolos: PNL finds itself within old political class sphere, obstinately refuses reform

The National Liberal Party (PNL the Opposition, ed.n.) finds itself within the old political class sphere and obstinately refuses to reform itself, says the founding president of the Romania Together Movement, Dacian Ciolos, who says that the Liberals refuse to join the formation he is part of "in a profound reformation project of the Romanian society, with emphasis on welfare."

"Unfortunately, I say with great regret, PNL finds itself within the old political class sphere and obstinately refuses to reform itself and join us in a profound reformation project of the Romanian society. A project focusing on welfare. They are waiting for PSD [Social Democratic Party, major at rule, ed.n.] to fall naturally and take their place. The experience in 1996 with CDR [the Romanian Democratic Convention, ed.n.] and in 2004 with DA Alliance showed us that this model does not work," Ciolos wrote on Facebook.

According to Ciolos, the leader of this obsolete political class is PSD, "which has neither the desire nor the science to get Romania out of poverty."

"We have an obsolete political class which we know has regularly come to power, managing to conclude the strangest and most inappropriate alliances. The political class I am referring to cannot break away from this logic, and these people refuse to see that Romania has changed, that the entire European and international context is different and they are trying to preserve a flawed way of making politics. The society's captivity within their own objectives suits them well. Poverty doesn't bother them. On the contrary, they benefit from it. The leader of this obsolete political class is PSD, which has neither the desire nor the science to get Romania out of poverty. The poorer their constituency, the easier it is for PSD to give these people very little, in dribs and drabs, keeping them in a captivity of deprivation," Ciolos maintains.

The former prime minister affirms that the new political class is sharply rising and developing in agreement with the future vision of the society.

"USR [Save Romania Union, ed.n.] is doing an excellent job at organizational level and I am glad to see there is a lot of well-articulated energy. We have in the left wing a new party, Demos, from which I expect much more, because the left wing also needs a new political formation, with a well-articulated message," Ciolos writes.

He further affirms that Romania Together Movement is going through an effervescent period, working these days on its political programme.

"We have substantiated our principles, we have made our calculations and I promise we will come with a set of measures which, once implemented, can modernise Romania. If we succeed in convincing the electors that we know what we have to do and we are capable of putting into practice all the measures, the Romania five years from now will no longer be that of today. You will no longer recognise the current terrible state. We are determined to give this country the fate it deserves, profoundly restructure the state and the economy with full focus on eradicating poverty and boosting entrepreneurship. We are working under immense stress. Not that of winning the elections, but the one after that, when we wish to bring to the Romanian society a complete change for the better," Dacian Ciolos further maintains.