National Press Review, 23 May

The Power, to the test of the vote in the Senate – reads today the Adevărul and explains – the senators are debating today upon the opposition’s resolution on external politics, whose outcome will indicate if the power still owns the majority.

The resolution comes amid the opposition leaders’ threats, according to which several congressmen from the Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) would announce leaving the party.

The leaders of the Social Liberal Union (USL) are counting on the fact that the one-vote-only difference between the Power and the Opposition in the Senate could be, and we quote, ‘blown away’ at the resolution especially through the ‘betrayal’ of several democrat-liberals.

The Adevărul also reads that the government wants to amend the auto tax again and is considering an obligation from the ones who want to sell the car they owned before July the 1st 2008. Government officials admit there is no database for the Romanians who paid the auto tax and those who received it back after winning the court trials. Whether it was called first registration tax, auto tax or pollution tax, it has changed so many times in the last years and has created so much controversy, that nobody really knows what, how much and why they need to pay, the Adevărul journalists also add.

Switching newspapers we read in the România Liberă about the backstage of the war for the Letea horses. Foundations concerned with animal welfare have requested almost 2,000 hectares of land from the authorities in Tulcea, for free, for hosting the feral horses. The authorities have rejected the proposal, arguing that the animals would have destroyed the protected habitats. The Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve Administration and the Tulcea Forestry Department have made public documents which, on their opinion, prove financial interest from the associations who defended the horses.

Theme-camps for children – a quick solution to take them away from computers – reads the Evenimentul zilei. In a world where children are more and more dependent to the new technologies, where through relaxation means we have come to replace human interaction with computer games, there are also opportunities for those who miss climbing the mountains or those who want to cultivate their spirit of adventure and do it other than through virtual strategy games. Theme-camps are focused on topics such as dance, painting, pottery and aim to develop children’s skills in a natural setting.

The same newspaper exclusively publishes an interview with journalist Ion Cristoiu who says that his court trials with the leader of the Greater Romania Party (PRM), Corneliu Vadim Tudor have started with a poem.

In the Jurnalul Naţional we read that heavy solar radiations are announced: These days there is an increased level of solar radiations, meteorologists warn. The UV index exceeds the maximum value of 6, according to meteorologists. Specialists state that children and those with sensitive skin are at risk, as they can suffer serious burns if exposed to sun without protection. 80 percent of Romanian citizens can suffer such burns if they sit in the sun for more than 30 minutes without protection.


Translated by: Manuela Stancu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University