President Iohannis, in Paris: We must make consistent efforts to develop national research centers and quality projects. “We’re between burnt product and delicious cake; this is Romania’s evolution in last century”

President Klaus Iohannis stated that Romania must make more consistent efforts to develop national centers for research and quality research projects, emphasizing that, for a long time, our country did not offer adequate work conditions for young researchers. “You, dear researchers and students, are among the best ambassadors that Romania has outside its borders, reflecting the creative potential of our people. I thank you for what you do in Romania’s name! I hope, as well, that most of you will have the opportunity to work in Romania, too. I must admit that, for a long time, Romania did not offer adequate work conditions for young researchers. We must, truly, make more consistent efforts to develop national centers for research and quality research projects,” said Klaus Iohannis, on Saturday, at the Romanian Embassy in Paris, at an event dedicated to the Romanian contribution to the development of science and technology in the year of the Centennial of the Greater Union. He gave as an example the research center developing around the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) project in Magurele, which reunites several research institutes, as well as modern infrastructure. “This center already attracts researchers from the European Union and other countries”, said Iohannis, who thanked professor Gerard Mourou, a Nobel Prize for physics laureate this year, for his support in transforming ELI in a “success story” for the Romanian scientific community. According to the President, other examples are the projects initiated by the Romanian researchers by their participation in the activities of the European Space Agency. “I express today the wish that the Romanian-French partnership in the realm of science, technology and industry continue to be one of strategic character. For the ambition of the European Union to be a world leader in the realm of science and technology, we need it to benefit from a real, organic base. This base cannot be offered except by extending the collaboration between technical universities and research institutes in all the member-states,” Iohannis emphasized. Klaus Iohannis also said that “a deeper Romanian-French partnership in the realm of research and innovation, as part of the framework offered by the process of European integration, oriented to ensuring peace and prosperity, represents the long-term guarantee that innovation will be used only in support of world peace and for the solving of the crucial problems of the planet, being oriented to reach the Durable Development objectives of the United Nations.” The President also emphasized that, throughout history, the Romanian-French cooperation was continuous. “I am glad to note that this historical cooperation is developing to this day, Paris hosting numerous Romanian youths who are at the beginning of a career which, I hope, will have an even greater impact than that of the generation of the Greater Union,” he stated. In his speech, Iohannis emphasized that France represented a key ally of Romania and the Romanian people in their fight for national unity. The head of state also mentioned that many of the leading Romanian inventors and engineers, such as Traian Vuia and Henri Coanda, worked in Paris. The event at the Romanian Embassy, hosted by the Romanian ambassador in Paris, Luca Niculescu, also saw the attendance of Professor Gerard Mourou, a Nobel Prize laureate, as well as Romanian students, graduate students and Ph.D. students in the region of Paris involved in scientific research.   “We’re between burnt product and delicious cake; this is Romania’s evolution in last century”   President Klaus Iohannis also stated, on Saturday, that Romania needs a far more stable framework, so that youths studying abroad return home. “We have all we need. We have educated people, possibilities, the desire of society, what probably needs to be studied is how we bring it all together, which is the catalyst. It’s like we’re preparing to make a very good cake and we have all the ingredients on the table: flour, sugar, nuts, butter, what have you, and we look at them and somebody asks: do you have all that you need? Yes, but from there comes the most important step – which is to put all the ingredients together so that it yields a delicious cake and not something burnt which is embarassing. We are oscillating between burnt product and very delicious cake. This is the evolution of Romania in the past century. We have gone through extremely good periods for Romania, obviously the Greater Union is the first extremely positive of the series, then we lost ourselves a bit, we went through the hardest dictatorships, with terrible results, we came back with a very positive event in December ’89 and since then we’re leading the path that was defined by all generations as a European and Euro-Atlantic path and I believe in some domains we are up to the challenge, but there is still a lot to be done,” said the head of state at the Romanian Embassy in Paris, when asked a question in regards to the way in which youths studying abroad could be convinced to not leave the country anymore. He emphasized the necessity to create a more stable framework, one predictable and solidly leading to meritocracy. “We have valuable youths and you are living proof. We have very valuable youths in the country as well. The phenomenon that saddens me every time is that those in the country would come here, but you would not return and then the role of politicians is to analyze why it is so and what framework must be created in order to have the exchange. (…) We must have in view creating a more stable, predictable, more solid framework in Romania, we must go towards something that I and many others have called meritocracy, so that the youths who come back can make a simple calculation – what career they would have, what chances they’d have in their career, what stability they would have in their career, what chances they would have to progress significantly in that career and then surely some of you would start...

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