On the second day of his state visit to Romania, Federal President Steinmeier travels on to Sibiu. Here he is even an honorary citizen. The reception is correspondingly warm.
Romania’s Federal President Frank-Walter has expressed his “admiration” for Romania’s development over the past decades. He has been coming here again and again for almost 20 years, he said in Hermannstadt. “Anyone who saw Romania 20 years ago will see that in many ways it has become a different and a better country.”
Steinmeier completed the second day of his state visit to the EU and NATO state. Since 2015 he has been an honorary citizen of Sibiu, the home of Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis, who accompanied him there. Since his first visit in 2007, the city “has grown dear to him,” said Steinmeier.
Iohannis made it clear that he would like more investment by German companies in his country. Germany has long been Romania’s first trading partner and the second largest investor in the country. “German investments, their quality are highly valued in Romania,” he stressed. “I hope that these will increase in the coming period, also with the support of the German minority.”
“Bridge builder” between the two states
In a census in 2021, 22,900 people still identified themselves as belonging to the German minority – before the Second World War it was around 800,000. The two most important groups are the Lutheran-Protestant Transylvanian Saxons and the predominantly Catholic Banat Swabians.
At a meeting with representatives of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania, Steinmeier called the German minority and the Romanian community in Germany “bridge builders” between the two countries. “You make a contribution to the fact that the relations between our two countries, our two peoples are so close and trusting,” he said.
The Forum is the political representation of the German minority in Romania, which also includes President Iohannis. Its chairman Paul-Jürgen Porr said that the minority fulfills the bridging function ascribed to it with life. “The bridge is now a multi-lane highway.”
Steinmeier attended the Samuel von Brukenthal High School, which taught in German. Steinmeier said that 90 percent of the students now come from Romanian-speaking families. This shows that the German language is “very attractive” and is used as a supplement to the mother tongue and English.
The Federal President ends his three-day state visit this Friday in Timisoara, which is the European Capital of Culture this year.
Source: Stern
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