Prime Minister Victor Ponta refused to attend the ceremony at the Cotroceni Palace celebrating 10 years since our NATO entry. Victor Ponta said Basescu wants to through a party, although there's nothing to celebrate.
Prime Minister Victor Ponta said Monday that president Traian Basescu, "is throwing" a party today to celebrate ten years of NATO membership, although the credit for this belongs to former Presidents Iliescu and Constantinescu and to former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase.
"I mean to say, because everyone is celebrating ten years since the entry into NATO, I think we should celebrate those who have the credit for our entry into NATO president Constantinescu, the prime ministers back then, President Iliescu, Prime Minister Adrian Nastase. They are the ones who brought us into NATO, so that Basescu could throw a party today that has nothing to do, of course, with NATO. He's in charge with the after parties", Ponta said at the beginning of the PSD permanent bureau meeting.
The Prime Minister urged that we should not forget those who had the vision to bring Romania into NATO.
"Thank God that those who ruled Romania after the '97, '98 and up to 2003 were able to make this fundamental decision for Romania. And now when we celebrate ten years of NATO, however, we should not forget who got us into NATO. We might think that those who are opening the champagne today are the ones who took us into NATO and that’s not right. We can only thank those who back then have had this correct vision", Ponta said.
The ceremony organized in the Cotroceni Palace to celebrate 10 years since Romania’s entry into NATO is attended by former heads of state Ion Iliescu and Emil Constantinescu.
Two years ago, also at the Cotroceni Palace, the president sat at the same table with the two former heads of state Ion Iliescu and Emil Constantinescu. Then they celebrated 10 years since Romania’s invitation to NATO.
10 years since Romania’s entry into NATO
The ceremony held on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Romania's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), at Cotroceni Palace, began on Monday in the presence of President Traian Basescu and former heads of state Ion Iliescu and Emil Constantinescu.
The event began with a ceremonial presentation of the flag of Romania and NATO, as well as with the national anthem of Romania and the North Atlantic Alliance.
The event is attended by tens of Army’s representatives, member of the diplomatic body accredited to Bucharest, the SRI director George Maior, the president of the Constitutional Court Augustin Zegrean, STS director Marcel Opriş, Romanian Police chief Petre Tobă, as well as ministers of the Interior and Defence Gabriel Oprea and Mircea Duşa, Mediafax reports.
The opening ceremony honored the Romanian soldiers who died in the theaters of operations, their names being read, and their pictures appearing on a projector. The participants kept a moment of silence in their memory.
The former head of state Ion Iliescu at a ceremony dedicated to NATO organized at the Cotroceni Palace, that the Revolution of 1989 was the crucial moment in the country's contemporary history, and its program had planned the Euro-Atlantic integration.
Ion Iliescu recalled the main events of 1990 until the NATO accession in 2004.
Emil Constantinescu, former head of state said on Monday at the ceremony held, that Romania's accession to NATO was possible due to the “exceptional solidarity of those in the political, civil society and people in general."
He sent tribute to the army, which has succeeded into integrating the structure through restructuring and the sacrifices they perfectly understood, and wanted to clarify that the intelligence services were integrated before the actual NATO integration, due to their contribution to a series of actions that history, when possible, will make public.
President Traian Basescu said on Monday at the ceremony held at the Cotroceni Pale to mark ten years since Romania NATO accession that Romania has never been more secure in terms of security than it is today.
The head of state sent a tribute to all those who lost their lives on duty and condolences to the families whose members died in battle.