National Press Review, 11 August

"Agriculture Supports Disinflation", the Adevărul writes, informing us that prices fell in July for the second consecutive month, due to cheaper vegetables and fruits.

The annual inflation rate fell below 5 percent. Also about this summer's good production of vegetables and fruits we read in the Ziarul Financiar, which, however, approaches the issue from a different angle, when asking: "Why does a kilo of tomatoes sold by small farmers cost 0.5 lei and in large stores their price is 2.5 or even 2.8 lei?". Vegetable producers in Romania say that prices explode on the road between farms and shop because farmers do not sell their goods directly to major commercial networks, but to intermediaries. Manufacturers admit, however, to not being able to sell their merchandise without wholesalers, because department stores have very strict conditions, which can be fulfilled only by intermediaries.

The România Liberă writes that "under the pretext of stimulating economic growth, the Government gives contracts of about 5 billion euro for infrastructure targets in villages, which are to be paid after 2013. The Ministry of Development will start soon a comprehensive modernization programme for the secondary roads in Romania, the water supply to villages and the hydraulic works for flood protection, arguing that it will bring economic growth. The problem is that the ordinance that has validated the project enabled the Ministry to use additional funds of over 35 percent of its actual value.

This means that between 2012 and 2020, the ruling governments will only pay interests and fees worth over 1.5 billion euro. Even worse is that the organisation of tenders has allowed authorities to award the public money contracts based on patronage. Instead of dividing the tendered roads in Suceava and Botoşani in small lots, so as to encourage the participation of several construction companies, the Ministry of Development preferred to auction the entire batch of 347 kilometers, and the winner was the famous King of asphalt and friend of PDL, Dorinel Umbrărescu.", the România Liberă stresses.

We read about Minister Elena Udrea's businesses in the Jurnalul Naţional: "Austere Udrea: 60 Million Euro for Multi-Purpose Hall at Lia Manoliu." Despite the presidential warnings for moderation in spending public money, especially during the pre-election period, Minister Elena Udrea has not been intimidated and has decided to start the ambitious project of building a large-scale polyvalent hall in Bucharest.

If we are doing well in halls and we will do even better, the railways are becoming more dangerous every day for train travelers, the Evenimentul Zilei informs us. The poor funding of the railway system in the last 20 years has transformed the two new bridges over the Danube, Borcea and Cernavodă, into a threat to travelers’ lives. 311 cracks, over 1 200 rivets and other weakened elements of structure and over three hundred thousand square meters that need to be repainted – these are the data from an official report that has accidentally fallen into the hands of the journalists from the Evenimentul Zilei.

On the two bridges trains run with speed limit restriction because of the aforementioned defects, the report also shows. According to CFR SA, the cost of the works on the two bridges is over 50 million euros. But it does not seem as urgent as the 60 million euro hall, because the request for funding this project is only in the evaluation stage.

"Stock Markets' Hysteria Cannot Be Kept Under Control", the Adevărul also headlines, saying that European and American politicians who are preparing for important elections next year, have been accused by their citizens of not understanding the crisis. In the U.S., the elections for the Congress have kept politicians in a continuous campaign, which has not encouraged them to be willing to compromise. Spain and Italy might be facing bankruptcy because of the state debt crisis in the euro area. This is the reason why Berlin is trying again to apply the German budgetary policy to the entire Europe.

From the Ziarul Financiar we find out that Germany and France, the most important European economies, begin to feel more pressure of being the only heavy pillars that can support the whole European monetary union. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has canceled his holiday because of the crisis. Some analysts give as secure the French qualifier debt reduction. If the French state loses its rating, the markets will reeive a very strong blow, as demonstrated by the recent stock market panic caused by cutting the U.S. qualifier.

France has the fourth largest debt in the world and its demotion would bring huge losses. In an attempt to not let things get out of hand, Germany has proposed the introduction of a "supervisor" of the European Union, which will penalise the states that do not implement a strict budgetary discipline and policies for the business-friendly labour field.

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