Romania's President Traian Basescu started his address to the Parliament at 7pm. The speech follows the government's announcement to take responsibility of three controversial law packs: the laws on education, unique salary scheme law and that on the reorganization of governmental agencies.

Here are President Basescu's main declarations:

• This is an important day for Romania and a maturity test for the whole political class as the government assumed responsibility for three laws that will reform the state

• This is a radical change, which Romania was in need of, and which Romanians have been expecting for many years

• I acknowledge the courage of the governing coalition to assume responsibility on some important laws

• Any law is bound to be amendable but the current laws are build on principles that cannot be contested

• I believe that our country could have suffered less from the crisis if the political class initiated reform immediately after Romania joined the EU

• The biggest privilege that I can have is to be President of this country

• I had the honor, since 2004 to be Romania's President and help my country move forward

• No one can deny that in the last years the country evolved and new opportunities emerged

• There have been legitimate debates over the decision taken during my mandate but I never made any compromises

• I never hesitated to criticize those institutions or politicians who blocked the essential reforms

• I may have had my share of mistakes but I always took the best decision for the people. I wanted to be a player, not a spectator

• Joining the EU brought about an economic increase due to investments and an increase of the national prestige. EU membership helped us reduce the costs of the economic crisis

• Five years ago, in the Romanian economy, work was not encouraged. I believe that the unique VAT of 16% improved the life of the Romanians

• In my four years of mandate Romania witnessed an unprecedented economic increase

• Salaries, pensions will be paid on time but we will also continue to encourage investments

• The biggest budgetary weight are pensions. There are many irregularities concerning luxury pensions

• In Romania there are 11 million assisted people, directly or indirectly

• We need a more flexible labor market, as an instrument to counter poverty. We need to reduce working places in agriculture and generate jobs in other sectors to increase living conditions of the people in the countryside

• We need to increase financial allocations for health

• On the long term, we need to encourage birth rates.

• The rural environment is three times poorer than the urban environment

• Migration is a social phenomenon, very dangerous for Romania

• As President, I realized that Romanians want a rule of law and that the law should be applicable to everybody, equally

• In the last five years, anti-graft prosecutors showed real progress and politicians were compelled to reveal their wealth, a step forward to transparency

• After Romania joined the EU, justice reforms were blocked or slowed down

• In the last nine months I collaborated very well with the new government and undertook blocked reforms

• During my mandate, the Communist regime and communist crimes were condemned

• My greatest dissatisfaction is that the files on the Romanian Revolution were not finalized. I demand the judicial system to find a solution: we have 1,600 deaths at the Revolution and the miner's outbreak in 1990 and no guilty persons

Read on HotNews.ro LIVE TEXT the President's declarations