President Nicusor Dan advised, on Monday, young people from the diaspora not to go abroad after finishing high school, but to attend university in Romania, setting his own example.

The head of state received, in the Unirea Hall at Cotroceni, dozens of children from the diaspora, participants in the 16th edition of the „ARC” Camp Program, who had previously visited the Cotroceni Palace and Garden.

At the beginning of the discussion, Nicusor Dan asked those present to raise their hands if they were from Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova or France.

The young people asked him, for an hour, various questions, related to the reasons that made him enter politics, even about how to open a store, about his relationship with mathematics or about what he would say to those who want to leave the country.

„It was in 2000 when we had exactly this type of discussion in Romania. My personal advice is not to leave after the 12th grade for Western Europe, but to leave perhaps with a master’s degree, because the first years of studies (…) are very important and are the ones that emotionally bind you to the place where you study. I worked in Bucharest for three years and I said that I want to live in Bucharest. If I had worked in New York, what would I have done?”, confessed the head of state.

As to a piece of advice for someone who wants to enter politics, Nicusor Dan said: „You have to be aware of what you bring to society, I think even more so in politics.” The skills of a politician are hard work and tenacity, he said.

„Nobody says in politics ‘I feel you are better than me, please take a seat in front'”, Nicusor Dan said.

Asked why he wanted to become president, he replied: „I didn’t want to. First I wanted to do mathematics, then I saw houses being demolished and I became an NGO worker”.

He said that, little by little, he moved from being an activist to being a mayor and then to being a president. „Before being a politician, I experienced this joy of doing mathematics (…). Now I try to use all the things I have learned over time with this job and it is a great responsibility to be here”, he stressed.

He highlighted the importance of the presidential office.

„The hardest and most beautiful thing is that you have responsibility for some people. Some people depend on what you do”, the head of state also pointed out.

At the same time, he told the young people present that „there are a lot of things to do in Romania” and that „we must reach the moment when each Romanian in the diaspora can rely on his country”.

The head of state took photos with the young people for minutes after the meeting ended.

AGERPRES