Nicușor Dan, at the reception at Cotroceni on National Day: "Romania is a corrupt country. However, we are less corrupt than we were 20 years ago. We live worse than last year, but we live much better than we did 20 years ago."

President Nicușor Dan declared on Monday evening, at the reception at the Cotroceni Palace, on National Day, that Romania is a corrupt country, and Romanians are right when they say they do not see a willingness from the Romanian state to fight against corruption and they are also right to be outraged that corrupt people come and give them lessons in morality on television.

The full speech of President Nicușor Dan:

"Dear Romanians from Romania and everywhere,

Today we celebrate the Union of 1918, a historic moment for Romania, a moment in which a generational dream has been fulfilled. And this means, on one hand, that we do not come from nowhere. That there was a society and a political class capable of channeling their energies for an ideal. And this means that the memory of those people obliges us to be at the height of what they have done.

Where are we today? I believe we must look with balance and lucidity at the moment we are in, precisely to be able to adjust our expectations and hopes.

We live worse than last year, but we live much better than 20 years ago and we live better than many people in neighboring countries.

Romania is a corrupt country and Romanians are right when they say they do not see a willingness from the Romanian state to fight against corruption. And they are also right to be outraged that corrupt people come and give them lessons in morality on television.

However, we are less corrupt than we were 20 years ago. It is true that all the corruption during this period has held us back. We could have been much further along and living much better than we do today. It is also true that in recent months we have not seen corruption at the top of the Romanian state.

We have many areas of excellence in Education, but overall the education system is weak to very weak and this will cause us major problems in the future.

The healthcare system is far, very far, from where it could have been with all the money we have all sent there. But we are still seeing the first new hospital buildings constructed through funding from the PNRR.

We have a very dynamic and deserving private economy that has managed to double Romania's GDP in 10 years. But we have a very large trade deficit. And we do not have a true economic policy at this moment. Nevertheless, the state authorities have managed to keep the calendar for joining the OECD.

A year ago, Romania canceled presidential elections. And this created doubt about democracy in Romania among Romanian citizens and among our partners.

However, in the meantime, we have many pieces of evidence that these elections were illegally influenced and much evidence that in the last ten years we have had a campaign of disinformation and manipulation led by Russia in Romania and Europe. But we do not have a complete report on what happened a year ago.

We are members of the European Union and thanks to this position, Romania has received about 100 billion euros. But, many times, Romania's voice has not been heard within the Union and there have been cases, such as the Schengen case, when Romania was wronged.

However, we have the maturity, which we have exercised in recent months, to negotiate and impose our point of view on technical issues that concerned Romania.

We have 5 million Romanians who have left Romania. Either due to material conditions or because they felt wronged in this country. But they are a business card and a huge potential for Romania, to the extent that we will manage to have a proper relationship with them.

Finally, we have a public administration that is often overwhelmed, which has lost both time and money in the process of digitalization and which, evidently, does not keep pace with society. But we have still built 500 km of highway and express road in the last 5 years.

All the things I have said are truths about Romania that we can see from one direction or another.

And the easiest thing for a politician is to take two or three of them, to make them slogans and to parade with them from morning till night. And there are some who do it. And, unfortunately, our public space is flooded with this overflow of slogans, some of them becoming clichés or even screams.

That is why the invitation I make to all of you is to lower our voices, to discuss calmly and with balance the problems our society has, without trying to hide them in any way. But maintaining our calm and balance.

I also invite you to try to listen to each other. Beyond the inevitable noise, we will find common viewpoints that we can build on. Because we live in a period in which only nations that manage to have internal solidarity succeed in making progress.

And this internal solidarity obliges us to remember those we have mentioned, and the responsibility we have towards our children.

And I invite you all to continue to believe in Romania.

Happy birthday, Romania! Happy birthday, Romanians!"