Senators,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Distinguished local officials,

It is a pleasure and an honor for me to be today in Iasi, it is a moment of joy for Iasi and Romania and these are not big words, they are concrete things. Delphi investment based in Iasi has all ingredients to be considered a successful investment, and I will bring few arguments: first, Delphi Group is a world leader in terms of technologies in the car field. And as you could find out, the components to be produced here, in Iasi, are used by all renowned car makers in the world, what exceptional persons, well-prepared from here, in Iasi do, practically reaches the entire world.
Secondly, it is about jobs, Delphi investment is not the only one in Romania. As you know, there are still in Romania, activity branches developped by Delphi at Ineu, Sannicolau Mare or Moldova Noua which bring jobs and investments in Romania. There are more than 10,000 employees which Delphi Group has in Romania, and if we speak about Iasi – 2000 jobs and an investment, only in this case, worth more than 140 million EUR – says a lot, if not everything about seriousness, consistency and performance of Delphi investment.
Thirdly, the Executive and local authorities did not stay aside regarding this investment. I appreciate the effort the local community made, and still makes to keep in Romania such an investor, it is a model which could be followed by all local authorities in Romania. On the other hand, as you know, the Executive, even if we are in difficult times, supports autohtonous or foreign investments in Romania, that bring jobs and allocate important financial resources.
The total value of state aid approved for Delphi investment amounts to around 24 millions EUR, nearly 6 million EUR of which were paid, and the other part of state aid is to be earmarked according to the development and expansion of investment.
In these two years, our country made huge efforts to reach a macro-economic stability, we reached that macro-economic stability due to Romanians’ efforts first of all. Currently, state authorities, political ones especially, are not allowed to compromise this stability won with difficulty through the efforts of Romanians, but they should consolidate the economic aspects for Romania to have economic future.
We are heading towards the fourth consecutive quarter of economic growth; we had the fourth quarter of 2010, first and second quarter of 2011, and according to all date we have, we expect the confirmation of the fact that third quarter was one of economic growth too. It is an occasion of moderate joy, because there is the sign that we are on the right path.
The consolidation of this path very much depends on what we are doing onwards, and especially on the way we adopt the budget for 2012 and the way we succeed to keep populism away and away from any responsible policy of the Romanian state. The Romanian Executive will propose to Parliament a realist and responsible budget. This means that first, we will take care to consolidate what we have, and to defend the country from dangers created by not a very good economic context. It is a saying like this, “better safe than sorry”, this will be one of philosphies underpinning the elaboration of next year’s budget. This means in concrete terms, that we will start the draft budget proposed to Parliament with a deficit of 1, 9 percent, to be prepared in case things do not go well, in Europe. But, if things go well, and do not get worse, we have the possibility to go with a deficit of up to 3 percent in ESA terms, or 2, 5 percent in cash.
What does it mean? It is good, we have place in the budget for better. But, if, things do not go in the right direction, we protect the current situation in order not to be worse. I believe it is a responsible approach, it has nothing to do with populism or 2012, but it has a direct connection with the interests of the country and each citizen. And if this is one of the budget philosophies, alike one equally important, namely that the first three priorities are and remain in the budget: investments and jobs, investment and jobs and investment and jobs.
I say this because in these two years, we had the largest share of investment in GDP, in EU, besides Poland. Therefore, the investment level, for instance, from 2011, from state budget is by 10 percent larger than the investment level in 2008, year of maximum economic growth of Romania but unfortunately, with a deficit that brought us sanctions from EU.
Only thus, can we consolidate what we won with difficulty from economic point of view, and with the support of the government coalition, and public profit and here, I want to thank lawmakers from Iasi, Coalition MPs for the way they put most of them, the country's interests before personal interests and image related interests- because I know it is not easy for a MP of power to support a rigorous policy of austerity in times of crisis, because they have to go back for a vote in the constituency they are from.
The fact that you had the strength, dignity and power to tell people that there cannot be done more than that and show the prospect of going in the right direction is something that honors all who serve the Romanian Parliament and parliamentary interest.
Finally, I think Iasi has a huge gain from such investments. The fact that highly specialized people, I saw many engineers, most of them graduated in Iasi, working in this factory and produce materials for the most famous cars in the world, technologies there are comparable with what happens in Europe or America or in the profile, is a sign of professional recognition of Iasi, the capacity of this university city to provide a well qualified workforce, better prepared, in high technology. When you come to Iasi, I am proud to be Romanian, to see engineers of the Romanian school, University of Iasi also producing high-class technologies.
Mr. President, again I appreciate the effort you made to be, today, present with us, I assure you of the entire opening of the Romanian authorities, of our support and cooperation. You are a strategic partner of the Romanian state, whether we speak of a national or local level, and with whom we will continue to work. I am convinced that Iasi City has the ability and power to attract other investment of this scope, here and in the county, for local people. Thank you and wish you all success.