The right man, in the right place, at the right time

Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lucian has been - and I hope is going to be - not only our long-term colleague but also our friend. I wish to thank him for having the initiative on such a special event. Given the present conditions, this event carries a great emotional charge.

Lucian Tudose as well as his colleague behind the camera have been the silent witnesses of all the political, economical and social events that have taken place in Romania during the latest years. I think Lucian has managed to make a great selection out of these many events and succeeded in revealing the dense activity that the President had during the past 4 years. Though, I wouldn't take into consideration only the past 4 years as the next week we'll be celebrating 15 years since the Romanian Revolution. I am certain that the next year we'll manage to make a selection of everything that took place during this period. For the moment, a large number of us consider that the evolutions within our country are perfectly normal.

I've seen some comments on the Internet on the result of the recent elections and somebody was saying that everyone wants to vote for the perfect man but, unfortunately, he is never one of the candidates. My reply to this statement would be that we had the privilege of having a President who was not perfect -as we are only humans - but who was the right man, in the right place, at the right time. Next week we'll have the opportunity of remembering the events in December 1989. Those were crucial moments in our history, moments when our country was on the brink of chaos and when Mr. Iliescu's wisdom played a very important part. For the people in my generation the Romanian Revolution was the chance of a lifetime.
I take this opportunity, as this is, probably, one of the last public appearances, to thank you not only for what you did for the country and for the people but also for what we are today as your figure has influenced us and has marked our evolution. I'm speaking not only for my department but also for all my colleagues in the Presidency.

On the other hand, it is obvious that nobody may ignore the statutory evolution of Romania during the last years. All these positive achievements were never easily earned though today they seem perfectly normal and implicit. I thank Lucian once again, I thank my colleagues once again. I hope that, during the past 4 years, not only did we manage to develop the official side of our activity but also the one revealing the personality. A man is only revealed when he gains access to power and I think that, for many years on, Romania will never have the chance of having a man of such decency and such character as President.

Thank you and a Happy New Year! to all of you.