Romania’s development depends on investment and initiative, and the country needs people with a Western attitude towards work, said Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu at the „Top 100 Romanians Abroad – RePatriot” 2024 Summit, organised at the Palace of Parliament.

He said that more than 3 million Romanians emigrated between 2008 and 2022 alone, pointing out that, in his opinion, „the entire political class” is to blame for this. In his opinion, we now have a great chance, as Romania is one of the safest countries in Europe.

The prime minister also presented projects aimed at a uniform development of Romania.

„This is what we are doing at the moment, we are developing the south of Romania, Oltenia, Muntenia and, last but not least, we are developing Moldavia, somehow forced to do so, taking into account the security crisis at the border with Romania (…) For the first time we have almost 1,100 km of road infrastructure completed, we have 850 km in the works and some 470 km in the tendering process,” Ciolacu said.

He also spoke about the investments in health care, of more than 13 billion lei, and about the part of education concerning dual education, where projects exceed one billion euros.

Ciolacu said he was optimistic about the return of Romanians who had gone abroad and thanked those who had left for sending home 6.5 billion euros – almost 2% of Romania’s GDP.

„(…) Of course we have a debt, and when I look at the average age of the diaspora, in Italy, in the UK, in Spain, it is between 31 and 33 years old. Apart from the fact that we have lost Romania’s value, we have also lost Romania’s future, because all young people are now working, developing professionally, and starting families in other countries,” Ciolacu said.

„I believe that we have only one Romania and I believe that we all want to have only one Romania and we all want you to come back home. The dramas that you have created in your families when you left, I believe that slowly but surely they must be solved,” Ciolacu added.

AGERPRES