Nicușor Dan pointed out the absence of a coherent country plan. But what does such a plan mean? How are they outlined and what are the steps needed for implementation? Analysts point out that although politicians frequently invoke the idea of a country plan, it often remains a simple campaign slogan. A real plan implies, first of all, political and social consensus, followed by a solid political will, which exceed the limits imposed by the electoral cycles.
The head of state admits that Romania does not currently have an AFP / Archive photo country plan
“Romania does not have a country plan at this time. Although there is good intention in many areas of the public administration in Romania, we do not see a reform emergence, from the average and bottom levels of the administration”,
says President Nicușor Dan. The need for Romania can be resolved with the private environment, says the president. However, the country plan is a more difficult purpose to achieve in a multicolored coalition, in which the measures proposed by the parties are fighting.
In recent months, there have been numerous major contradictions related to the reforms that the current executive – consisting of PNL, PSD, USR, UDMR and minority representatives – should apply them to reduce state spending and improve collection to national budget.
Among the most recent, still unresolved are the 10% cuts of the public administration proposed by Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan and the elimination of the ceiling for the basic products that the parties would have agreed. At the other end, the PSD wants to “correct” measures recently taken by the Government, such as eliminating fiscal facilities from the second package, but also the extension of the ceiling, through laws.
Political analysts point out that in a country plan, politicians should focus in particular on Romania's belonging to international organizations, for example the European or NATO, as well as those they want to adhere to, as is the case.
He does not make a favor with the fact that he does this statement without elaborating it well enough and relatively quickly – George Jiglău
The political scientist George Jiglău points out that in the current context we cannot talk about a strategy especially at the Government level, which is currently caught in fiscal-budgetary measures:
“The government at this moment assumed some measures, reforms, to stabilize us from a budget point of view. So in the short term. Automatically, being a short term, we cannot talk about strategy. That the ex officio strategy has a meaning that refers to the long term. Rather, in my interpretation about how the government and Prime Minister Bolojan are positioned, it is that we need these short -term measures, and then we have the luxury to think longer. The problem is that in the short term all the amalgan of measures must be taken ”,, Explains for the “truth” the political scientist George Jiglău.
The political scientist also explains that the country project must leave the president, who has all the necessary levers to draw it. “The electoral program of the candidate who is elected and becomes a president is in himself a kind of country project and so should work. Maybe here Nicușor Dan does not make a favor with the fact that he does this statement without elaborating enough and relatively quickly, because it is as if the ideas in the campaign have remained there in the campaign, and now we have to talk about it.” points out the political scientist George Jiglău, at the same time emphasizing that “The president has the necessary levers to launch any great national conversation, so that he can put some meat on the bones of this country project.”
“Being part of NATO and the EU is already a country project that must be implemented. It is adapted according to the times we live.” the political scientist also points out.
Why does a country plan need
Professor Radu Carp points out that a country plan also needs political will, but politicians cannot be the ones analyzing the directions of action.
“There were so many plans that did not materialize. I remember that during Traian Basescu, several commissions were made that examined the political regime and made more recommendations, but they have not been implemented. That is, we have solutions to problems if the political class does not want to implement us.
In order to have a country plan, first of all we have to have an agency. What is missing at the moment is totally blocked. An agency for government strategies. Such a plan does not appear in the blue and we cannot say intuitively what it should be. An agency to work on projects, to do project tenders to universities, to institutes and to ask for the point of view. Which should be the priorities of Romania. Or we do not have this mechanism that exists in other countries. Politic people have limited skills and it is normal to be that way. Their competence is political. We can't pretend to give some visions”, Explains Professor Radu Carp.
In the context of contradictions in the coalition on fiscal-budgetary measures, Radu Carp points out that “It's a big problem, because two visions are already headed. A vision From the left that goes with these ceilings to protect the population and a more liberal vision that says that these ceilings did not stop the prices, but on the contrary, they took them above. So, here is the risk of a multicolored governance, that, practically, in the end a compromise is reached, but without calculating exactly what the effect is. For example, I did not see any analysis to say that giving up the ceiling leads inflation to a certain percentage, an estimate that is assumed by the government. Or, on the contrary, the ceiling renunciation does not introduce inflation. Or any calculation to place us in an area as rational. For now, there are only arguments for political positions ”.
Why doesn't Romania have a country plan
The president may be one of those who promote such an idea, emphasizes the analyst Ion M Ioniță, editor-in-chief of Historia, but more important is that such a plan must be applied in the long term, beyond the electoral cycle.
“What would a country plan mean? It would mean a long -term strategy that should obtain the consensus of the society so that it is continued from one government to another. This would mean a country plan. It does not put a president or a government and after an electoral cycle it changes because another government comes or another president is coming.
That is why we have no coherence, because there are all kinds of plans, we have strategies with ruthless, but none of them or none of these plans manages to overcome the electoral cycles. They are abandoned and so they do not end in an electoral cycle. So there should be some objectives accepted by all parties or their vast majority and population so that they are completed for longer periods of mandate ”, Ion M. Ioniță points out.
