The Romanian president Traian Basescu took part to the Government’s meeting on Wednesday, just several days after the argument with some Liberal ministers regarding the withdrawal of the Romanian troops from Iraq. The head of state put forward for analysis the urgent problems and a series of drawbacks that the Romanian authorities must tackle in the perspective of the accession to EU.

Basescu underlined the necessity of modernising the states institutions by January 1, 2007, and reminded the ministers that the health, education and agriculture must undergo a decentralization process. The president drew attention to the fact that the absorption of external funds remained a problem while 2 billion dollars is still to be invested in projects.

Basescu criticized the heavy bureaucracy that impedes the prompt implementation of projects and the discouraging of EU funds absorption.

The meeting of the Government with the president gave Basescu the best background to reiterate Romania’s engagement in Iraq, based on four UN resolutions.