Romania is a stable, democratic, secure and pro-European country, a reliable partner for its foreign allies, reads the end of 2024 message conveyed by President Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday.

"We are concluding a complicated year, with many achievements, but also with challenges, both for each of us and for Romania. Now, at the end of 2024, my message, in which I believe with all my conviction, remains this: Romania is a stable, democratic, secure and pro-European country, a reliable partner for our foreign allies," Klaus Iohannis affirms in his message, according to a press release of the Presidential Administration.

The president emphasizes that in the past year Romania has made significant economic progress and achieved important goals, such as full Schengen accession and visa-free travel for the United States.

"Romania has continued on its positive path and has narrowed the gap with EU countries. Living standards and incomes continued to rise in 2024, even though the external context was not at all simple. At the same time, however, against a backdrop of justified discontent in our society, we are at a watershed moment, a moment of essential choices. To overcome it, we need to strengthen solidarity and regain confidence in the political class. Only if we preserve our democracy and the values that have defined us as an authentic part of the European family will we get through this difficult stage and continue to accelerate Romania's development and modernization," Klaus Iohannis said.

The president went on to point out that "2025 will be an extremely important year for our future and for the generations to come".

"The political class needs to show that it has learned the lessons of 2024 and respond with concrete and swift action to society's needs. It is more than ever the time for maturity and for assuming responsibility, for genuine reforms, not mimicked, and for reconstruction based on real, undisguised respect for the citizens whom those elected are called to represent," reads the president's message.

Iohannis urges Romanians not to lose hope that Romania can be kept on its pro-Western path.

"History has repeatedly shown that the spirit of our nation cannot be defeated. Those who now want to divide us and turn us back to a dark past, which no Romanian wants any longer, will not succeed. And they will not succeed because our strength lies precisely in our unity and in our common belief in freedom and democracy. Romania is, however, the responsibility of each of us and of all of us together. Therefore, in the New Year, I urge you to regain our trust and never lose hope that, together, we can keep Romania on its pro-Western path, guided by the fundamental principles and values that define us - justice, freedom and democracy, for which our fellow human beings have paid the supreme price. I wish you all a better New Year, full of joy and fulfillment! Happy New Year!," reads the message conveyed by president Klaus Iohannis. AGERPRES (RO - editor: Andreea Rotaru; EN - editor: Simona Iacob)