Iohannis: We have unfortunate discussion about rule of law in Romania; Romanians want fair, European country

President Klaus Iohannis says that there is an "unfortunate discussion" in Romania on the rule of law, showing that Romanians want a fair, European country and that their vote counts in the European Parliament elections and the referendum of 26 May. 

"We have that unfortunate discussion about the rule of law in Romania. Romanians want fair justice, a fair country, but there are politicians who want something else, they want not to answer for their deeds and what is the Romanians' fault for this? Romanians want a European, prosperous and fair country and we have to understand this summit very well, this summit in Sibiu is not an isolated event, it is part of a much larger picture, of which we, Romanians, want to be part of. A prosperous European Union, elections to the European Parliament, speaking about elections - a referendum for the rule of law - a Union that generates prosperity for the Romanians, a European Union that generates jobs and generates a good future, as it is popularly said," Iohannis said on Wednesday in an interview with the public television TVR1. 

He pointed out that the vote of the Romanians in the elections to the European Parliament and the referendum matters. 

"There are politicians who say that the European elections do not matter, the referendum does not matter. It is not so, the European elections matter, the referendum counts, because by voting the Romanians matter. You see, Romania is taken into account, we are a country that has the Presidency of the Council of the Union, this meeting in Sibiu, Romania matters and Romanians matter. The vote of the Romanians counts," the head of state said. 

He also argued that there are "populist leaders" in Romania who have an anti-European speech. 

"If we talk about populist leaders, we have to admit that there are some, unfortunately, in Romania, and they are even known people, big party leaders who lately have had a rather anti-European speech, a speech against foreigners and so on. It is a pity because Romania deserves to have a pro-European political discourse. Romanians are pro-European, Romanians do not want to leave Europe, if we only think about the millions of Romanians who left the country and work everywhere in EU countries. They want to stay in Europe, we want to stay in Europe. But there are these populists who tell us that Europe is not the right solution, there are others who say the European Union needs to be dissolved, there are others who say that the European Union is the one that creates national problems. No, almost all the national problems are created wherever we have national politicians. Unfortunately, we must also put up with some politicians who, perhaps with the purpose of cleansing their files, have put the entire justice in difficulty," President Iohannis said.