Conservatives or progressives, the majority of Romanians in the country are pro-European, pro-Western, President Nicusor Dan said on Thursday.

Asked on Antena 1 TV station whether he defines himself as being rather conservative, the head of state replied: „Precisely because there is this fracture in society, I do not want to define myself one way or the other.”

As to the decision to go with his family to a monastery on August 15, instead of being present at Navy Day, he said that he considered that the religious holiday he celebrated seemed important to him.

„Navy Day is a custom. It is not a law, it is nothing, it is a custom,” he said.

The choice to go with the family to a monastery, said Nicusor Dan, meant getting closer to people.

„After the campaign I didn’t want to be seen as making a show of my church attendance, I preferred to go to the Sambata Monastery, where there were a lot of people. I think it was a gesture of getting closer to the community,” explained the head of state.

Regarding the question of whether he is more conservative, Nicusor Dan recalled his decision to resign from the USR 10 years ago. „I think that this is not the debate in society that should be dominant,” commented the president.

He also spoke about the timing of the presidential election campaign.

„In the second round of the presidential elections, I confronted the president of AUR and reproached him for being a populist, meaning he doesn’t speak by numbers, for being pro-Russian and not pro-Western, for inciting hatred in society and for not understanding that Romania cannot function economically in a model without collaboration with an international market,” said Nicusor Dan.

In his opinion, the majority of Romanians are pro-Western.

„These were some demarcation lines with what I call populism in Romania. And I think this is a correct demarcation line. Of course, everyone has their own line. If we want to return to a demarcation line where we again confront progressives and conservatives, I think that is exactly what Putin wants for Romanian society, to continue to break our heads on this line, when we are, most of us, all pro-Western,” the president pointed out.

AGERPRES