National Press Review, 23 March

Today’s newspapers in Bucharest exploit the situation in Libya and emphasize the fact that there are cracks in the coalition striking against Muammar Gaddafi.

‘Gaddafi’s weapons are pulverized, the coalition is increasingly shaky’, the Gândul writes.

Apart from the successful attempts of degrading the Libyan regime’s air defence capability, the coalition was not able to agree on other terms: the removal from power of leader Muammar Gaddafi, or an eventual assassination – the newspaper informs.

Western coalition continues bombardment of Libya, but problems arose amid NATO when it came to designating the leading force of the operations, the Adevărul informs.

The România Liberă: The United States of America refuse taking the lead in military operations on the long-term, but France opposes NATO taking control of Libya operations.

On the other hand – the Evenimentul Zilei writes – Arab countries abandon the anti-Gaddafi coalition. Authorities in Washington and their European allies have only convinced Qatar to join the military mission in Libya. The United Arab Emirates have reported that their contribution will only be limited to delivering humanitarian assistance.

With regards to internal politics, newspapers write about ‘the Adrian Severin case’. Head of the Social Democratic Party Victor Ponta ‘urged’ Adrian Severin (the Gândul writes), or even ‘ordered’ him (the Adevărul states) to resign from both the party and the European Parliament, as requested by the European Socialists. ‘Severin and the true spirit of Romania’, the Evenimentul Zilei writes: ‘Should he be expelled him from the party and he would not leave’; the Jurnalul Naţional publishes the Eurodeputy’s reaction: ‘resigning in return for receiving false accusations is not a solution’.

The România Liberă writes on the same topic ‘Europe will never forget Adrian Severin’, since, as the daily believes, he is the protagonist of some of the biggest scandals in the history of the European Parliament.

We close with the daily Gândul, which explains ‘why is food three times more expensive once it passes the border and reaches the store shelves’. For instance, potatoes imported from EU member states enter our country with a price of 0.7 lei per kilogram, while the shelf price in stores is up to 3 or 3.5 lei. The situation is similar when it comes to bananas, meat, sugar or coffee.

Most producers use intermediaries and each of them adds costs to products, the Gândul informs. A pertinent official explains to the daily newspaper: ‘In developed countries, agricultural producers are the ones who deal with the import of vegetables and fruits off-season. In our country, imports are effectuated by speculators’.


Translated by: Mihaela Grigoraş
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University