Vladescu: If he wants the euro, Isarescu should become PM

If he really wants Romania to adopt the euro on January 1st 2015, Mugur Isarescu, governor of the NBR (National Bank of Romania) should accept the position of prime minister for two or three years, believes Sebastian Vladescu, former finance minister. “I worked with Mugur Isarescu both in his capacity as prime minister and as governor and I can say there was a very big difference between the two instances, as he is a man dedicated to the institution he works for. I believe in his role as a prime minister he has a much broader perspective on things and can find the means to collaborate with the NBR that would otherwise be hard to find. If he wants to take Romania into the euro zone in his last year in office as governor, I think it would benefit him much more to be a prime minister for two or three years, than to continue to focus on inflation. Vladescu expects the economy to drop by around 2% in 2010, and as a result does not see any chance that next year will be used to prepare the adoption of the euro. “It is very hard to imagine that 2011-2012 will be enough to achieve this target.”