Mircea Geoana announces his candidacy for president: We need real change

Former NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana on Wednesday announced he will run for Romania's president, as independent candidate."I could have proposed you a perfect country. Present myself as the perfect politician, tell you that all problems will disappear overnight. But we know that's not the reality. We're not perfect. I'm not perfect. Our country isn't perfect. But you know what we can do? We can work. Let's roll up our sleeves and build together a country where every voice counts and every vote counts. I am running for Romania's presidency because I know we need real change," he said in a video message published on his official Facebook page.Mircea Geoana's slogan, presented at the end of the video, is "Independent. Vision. Respect."He believes that his approach will not be easy and says that he will not be a president of parties."I do not promise miracles, but I promise you something real: I will be here for each and every one of you, I will be a president for all, for the young and the retired, for those at home and those in the diaspora, I will be a president for all Romanians, regardless of ethnicity or religion. I will be the president of people and not of parties. For me there are no PSD-ists [Social Democratic Party followers], Liberals, USR-ists [Save Romania Union followers], sovereigntists and UDMR-ists [Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania followers]. I'm here to represent you all. I will be the president of the Romanian nation, defender of our traditions and our faith, but also open to modernity and progress," said Mircea Geoana.He warns citizens that "times will not be easy." "Together we can make them better. Romania does not need perfection, it needs leaders who listen to you, understand you, respect you and fight for you. Let us be reborn together!," Mircea Geoana added.    The former deputy general secretary of NATO, Mircea Geoana, candidate for the position of president of Romania, said that he wants to change the Romanian political system and for the head of state to represent all Romanians, adding that he feels represented by none of the existing parties."I have done politics in my life, I know what the electoral sport means. I was a candidate in 2009, some say that I won, I really did, but I think that the world has changed and the country has changed and Romanian society has moved forward, stumblingly, but it went forward, and the Romanian political system remained behind. And today I no longer feel represented by any of the existing parties and, more than that, when I say independent I rather say independent of parties, because I want the president of Romania to represent all Romanians, party fans, undecided, those from home, those from abroad. (...) Let's finish with this fiction that a president from a party eventually arrives in Cotroceni and overnight he suddenly becomes independent," Mircea Geoana told Pro TV.He adds that there are several thousand volunteers and people who support the Romania Reborn Movement, which "is no longer a solitary action", emphasizing that he does not want to be dependent on PSD and PNL interests."I have nothing to do with PSD or PNL, I don't have a problem with them, I just want to not be dependent on their interests and I want to change Romanian politics - I think that is the main problem of Romania - this is also the reason for which I am running as an independent. It is about our political system, which has politicized the state, put incompetent people in too many places, created automation, state positions, waste, corruption. And if you really want to change something, yes you make a real change in Romania, you must have the moral and political power to be above these interests. I will work with the parties, obviously, and I will work with those from all parties who have a vocation to govern, who want to enter in a real change project for Romania. (...) I don't think that at the moment the Romanians listen to anyone's orders", the former NATO official emphasized.Mircea Geoana quoted King Mihai in context, when he gave his last speech in the Senate: "I return to what King Mihai said in 2011, when he turned 90 (...): The country needs fair and skilled rulers". "Today, Romania has neither fair nor skilled leaders", he added."I look at what these people have done. They were in power for 10 years with the current president, as a package, in various formulas. And I think that whatever they propose and whatever they promise, that promise collides with the reality of the way have governed this country. I, for one, am not very convinced when I hear them that, suddenly, they will administer the country well, they will depoliticize it, they will appoint competent people, we will start having lower inflation and higher purchasing power, that we draw European funds, that we decentralize, register, digitize this country. I don't believe them, and that's why for me they are all the same, with only one condition: I know how to separate the good from the the bad and I know that there are good people in the parties at the central and local level, from all the parties, and we will be able to work with them", Geoana also affirmed. (Photo:https://www.facebook.com/)