National Press Review, 1 April

'Drugs for cancer – free only in statements', the Evenimentul zilei headlined on the front page. The patients with leukemia being intolerant to certain drugs were sentenced to survive only if they had money and could afford to buy drugs from abroad. About 20 percent of the children treated for leukemia were allergic to the medicines provided by the Ministry of Health.

But the national oncology program had other shortcomings. Moreover, the Romanians falling ill with cancer and leukemia died unexpectedly because of medicine shortages. 'There are many drugs for cancer patients, some very cheap, which in Romania do not come directly from their producers', Doctor Daniel Coriu, head of the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic in Fundeni, said. Some producers considered that they haven’t had enough advantages in selling these drugs, some were unhappy that the state reimbursed them the cleared and free prescriptions very late. Furthermore, the European guidelines on cancer had not been updated in our country, holding back our access to new drugs appeared in the West, according to doctors.

Several papers analyzed in detail the public intervention on yesterday of the U.S. ambassador in Bucharest, Mark Gitenstein, regarding the energy market in Romania. 'In mid-foot of the Wilileaks dispatches, the U.S. ambassador has sharpened his remarks about Romania's problems', the România Liberă wrote. The energy companies should be privatized, not reorganized, because they are not run like businesses, said Gitenstein. Maintaining the regulated prices for gas and energy and the attempt to resuscitate the state energy companies by regrouping them determined the delay of some investments in folders and production.'

'United States required electricity price liberalization in Romania', the Gândul also wrote. Gitenstein said that we must get rid of the 'smart guys', who for at least 10 years have been collecting over 50 percent of the hydro energy of Hidroelectrica with significantly lower prices than the ones of the production costs. These companies fell in the hands of the independent shareholders', Gitenstein suggested. 'U.S. Ambassador accused energy bosses of amateurism', the Evenimentul zilei headlined. Using the profits of the state companies to cover the gaps in the budget, the barons of those companies, but also the fact that the energy companies are run by inexperienced people, politically appointed – were just some of the harsh accusations of the U.S. official.

New Wikileaks disclosures in the Jurnalul Naţional. 'Romanian economy will fall on its head, but how hard?', the newspaper headlined, inspired by diplomatic telegram from November 2008, in which the American embassy in Washington wrote, quote: 'The rapidity with which the economy began to show signs of tension has surprised the political leaders, many of them continuing to deny this issue. Romania's economy, already slowing, will stop in 2009. All eyes are now on the economic growth of the Romanian government deficit, with concerns about how this deficit will be funded. While the government officials argued that the economy will land smoothly in 2009, many foreign analysts seemed increasingly convinced that it was time 'to fasten the safety belt for a troublesome landing', end of the quote.

The Adevărul opened today an information campaign aiming to show us, with the help of the specialists, how to can take advantage of the opportunity offered to Romania through the Danube Strategy. In the next 10 years the EU will focus on developing the countries bordering the river and will provide tens of billions of euros through a large multinational project to reduce the differences – primarily the economic ones – between the countries along the upper flow of the old river and on the lower one.

According to the newspaper, the Danube Strategy was an opportunity to revive Romania, which should not be missed under any circumstances. The Institute for the Danube Region and the Central Europe, former vice-chancellor of Austria, Erhard Busek, said in an exclusive interview for the Adevărul that 'developing intelligent projects and launching original ideas are the opening key to the way of the beneficiaries’ success. It only depended on the creators of the projects if they are eligible for funding. The success depends only on Romania, on the authorities, on the leaders of each applicant entity', the Austrian warned.

The Gândul said in an article of its financial page 'How did “breadbasket of Europe” in Romania move to Denmark'. Romania was among the European Union countries with the lowest yields per hectare for wheat, maize, sunflowers and potatoes, according to a comparative study by the National Institute of Statistics. Even though last year Romania was fourth place in EU in terms of the cultivated area, the wheat crops’ indicator per hectare was very low: only 2800 kg per hectare even lower than the one in Bulgaria. On the first place there was Denmark, with about 8000 kg per hectare, almost three times more.


Translated by: Iulia Florescu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University