PM Ciuca discusses results of ministers' assessment with President Klaus Iohannis

 Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca discussed with President Klaus Iohannis the results of the ministers' assessment, according to some government sources.The said sources showed that the PM believes there is no need for reshuffles.However, the head of the Executive informed the members of the Cabinet that they will no longer be able to come on the last hundred metres with projects considered as milestones within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).Thus, the ministers' analysis is "a passing note, but no one has a blank cheque at this point."Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca says that he has made the stage evaluation of the Cabinet members based on ten objective criteria and the "stability of the team of ministers" offers the guarantee that the Executive will continue to act "responsibly" for continuing the modernization of Romania."We had the political stability and the support of the Ruling Coalition, Parliament and the President of Romania, which made it possible to provide Romanians with security, protection and the country with the path to development," Ciuca said on Monday.He specified that he made the stage evaluation of the ministers based on ten objective criteria "related to the expectations of the Romanian citizen and society"."The support of Romanians is the foundation on which we can build further, and the stability of the team of ministers guarantees that we will continue to act responsibly to achieve the objectives of our citizens and to continue the modernization of Romania," he added.The stage of fulfillment of the Government Program, mentioned the head of the Government, was correlated with the efforts to ensure the financing of the measures taken from internal and external sources."I have closely monitored and was pleased to see that each member of the Cabinet has taken very seriously the commitment to meet the targets, milestones and reforms of the PNRR, which gives us the chance to access this European funding mechanism. We have attached the same importance. - attracting the other European funds made available to Romania through the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 and preparing the projects for financing in the current financial year. The way in which national and European resources were used for the benefit of people and community development is another criterion that stood on the basis of the evaluation of the government team," the Prime Minister pointed out.The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of respecting, for each member of the Government, the criteria of integrity and transparency, "values without which no government policy would have credibility".Referring to the war in Ukraine, the prime minister stressed "the power of solidarity and unity of European states and NATO members.""The consolidation of Romania's status as a European and Euro-Atlantic state, strongly attached to democratic values and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, has remained throughout this period a line of effort to which we have added the objective of preparing the OECD accession process," Ciuca also said.According to the Prime Minister, an important objective assumed by the Government is to obtain Romania's energy independence and to transform the country into an energy security factor in the region."The new offshore law and energy investments make it possible to exploit the natural gas resources in the Black Sea and the deep ones in Buzau County. By exploiting the resources of the continental shelf of the Black Sea belonging to Romania, we will ensure 90% of the necessary. It represents a remarkable leap and proves Romania's ability to find new resources and solutions at a time when the supply of natural gas worldwide is threatened by the war in Ukraine (...) The national and European resources we have at our disposal - over 90 billion euros in the coming years - will finance vital transport infrastructure projects, health, energy investments, local development projects and the transition to green energy," Ciuca added.The Prime Minister maintains that "together we have overcome the health crisis, we have stabilized the energy crisis, and now we manage and control the effects that Romania, like many states, is feeling as a result of the war in Ukraine"."We acted in coordination at the level of the Government and the Governing Coalition, in close collaboration with the President of Romania. (...) Romania has never been more defended than it is now as a NATO and EU member state. This status of our country, the new NATO Strategic Concept recently adopted in Madrid and the national army in continuous modernization offer further security of the Romanians, but also of the Ukrainian refugees who choose to stay in Romania. Our country is today stable and safe socially, economically and politically, prepared to overcome the effects of the crises we are confronted with and engage on the path of reforms, modernization and development," added Ciuca.The Prime Minister states that Romania registered the highest economic growth among the member states of the European Union in the first quarter of this year, the foreign direct investments increasing by 34% in the first four months of this year compared to last year, which "validates the confidence investors have in the national economy and confirms the measures taken by the Government".