US ambassador: Strength of institutions will determine whether the country will prosper

Newsroom 05/07/2012 | 11:18

The strength of Romania’s institutions will decide whether the country will prosper, said US ambassador to Romania Mark Gitenstein yesterday, in his 4thof July speech.  The ambassador referenced the book Why Nations Fail, written by M.I.T. economist Daron Acemoglu and Harvard political scientist James A. Robinson. The ambassador quoted Tom Friedman’s editorial in the New York Times to explain the idea of the book that “the key differentiator between countries is ‘institutions.’ Nations thrive when they develop ‘inclusive’ political and economic institutions,” and they fail when power is concentrated in the few.”

The ambassador argued that Romania is presently building institutions that the citizens of the country are starting to realize are not the property of any political party.

“In the midst of yet another political storm here in Romania many people ask me about her future. You are building just those kinds of institutions; institutions that empower Romanians to use their own talent to build this nation. And Romanians are beginning to recognize that these institutions are not the property of any one political party but of the Romanian people and they will fight to defend them.

For the dangers of abuse of power, whether at the national or local level are ever-present. And it is the people of the nation who suffer when these institutions are jeopardized. When institutions are weak or manipulated, when rule of law is trivialized – those are the nations that fail. For Romania, the strength of these institutions will decide whether you prosper and whether your children will decide to live here,” the ambassador said.

Ambassador Gitenstein pointed out the progress made with the adoption of difficult austerity measures by the previous government which made Romania on the best-performing economies in the European Union. The ambassador urged the country to continue on the path of institutional reform and to continue to deepen its markets, while maintaining commitment to the rule of law and respect for democratic institutions.

Read the ambassador’s full speech here

Photo: US Embassy (http://romania.usembassy.gov/embassy/ambassador.html)

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