UDMR's Kelemen: The ongoing war, economic crisis stall big ambitions

Romania needs to clarify whether it is a presidential or parliamentary republic, and that should be established by amending the Constitution, says Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) national leader Kelemen Hunor, adding that "every time there are arguments to postpone amending the Constitution."

"At the moment, Romania is neither nor. (...) The vast majority of the EU countries function as states with a President elected by Parliament. That is what we have said we should be doing. And to dispel doubts over us wanting a decorative president, we do not change the powers of the president, they remain as they are. That was our proposal. If there is a majority, if there is a will, we will put this proposal up for talks, but I acknowledge that this is not exactly the right time to revise the Constitution. But every time there are arguments to postpone amending the Constitution," Kelemen told AGERPRES in a recent interview.

Amid the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Kelemen is calling for the protection of investments and for well-thought-out economic and social measures.

"We have to support the economy, the investments; we have to protect the investments, the jobs. If we fail to protect the investments, there will certainly not be government income, you will not be able to pay for the social expenses. And on the other hand, of course, we must take care of vulnerable people, of that vulnerable social stratum that we keep talking about and which, unfortunately, is growing in this time of crisis, and we must not leave anyone behind," says the deputy prime minister.

In his interview with AGERPRES, Kelemen also mentions the situation generated by the national hockey team having recently played the Szekler anthem in competition, thus responding to criticism levelled by Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu.

Regarding the situation of the Roman Catholic Theological High School in Targu Mures, which licence to operate has been withdrawn by the Supreme Court, Kelemen says that he is waiting for the reasoning of the judges to see the way forward. "It's a high school that parents and the community want. I see it bothering someone all the time, because every three years, every four years, we go back to that. It's like a Netflix series. But we will not let it stand that way," says Kelemen.