National Press Review, 25 May

On the case related to the smuggling in the Constanţa Harbour, on students’ vacations and on how the Greek Government is hoping to escape debts restructuring, these are the topics in today’s newspapers.

‘Total Igas war – ‘Two and a half’, the Evenimentul Zilei reads today and details: Accused of having been informed from January about the involvement of Mironescu in the smuggling, Igas denied, but also triggered an inspection at the General Directorate for Information and Internal Safety.

Journalists in the Evenimentul Zilei write that Traian Igas knew about the involvement of the Interior Ministry General Secretary Laurenţiu Mironescu in the Constanţa Sud Agigea case, ever since January this year.

The General Directorate for Intelligence and Internal Protection would have sent a Note of Info to Minister Igas, concerning the involvement of Mironescu in the smuggling at the Constanţa Harbour.

Igaş denies the information and announces that he disposed verification at the former Two and a half, especially to establish who is responsible for not being informed about Mironescu’s involvement.

In the Jurnalul Naţional we read that students will have two longer vacations starting next year.

The Ministry of Education, Daniel Funeriu, announced that the frauds at the highs cool graduation exams will be more harshly punished starting this year, that the exams will be conducted under the surveillance of video cameras, and the inspectors will collaborate with law enforcement representatives.

Starting next year, spring and winter breaks will be one week longer, but the number of school days will remain the same, through the elimination of the vacation in February and shortening the summer vacation.

The România Liberă reads about ‘how policemen escaped being fired’.

The Boc Government needs to find other ways for the already approved budget for the Ministry of Administration and Interior to be respected.

And not because he would have given up the idea of redundancy in the case of thousands of employees, but because, in the Parliament, the coalition did not do very well on the voting rates again.

In order to solve the new issue, the Boc Cabinet has two available options: a new law project or the adoption of a new emergency ordinance, the journalists at the România Liberă believe.

In the same newspaper we also read that significant investments in the infrastructure – roads, water and sanitation for rural areas – only have a few weeks to obtain the approval for the purchase part, otherwise, European money will be lost.

The Minister of Agriculture Valeriu Tabără declared that he would make an analysis on each project, but did not say, the România Liberă reads, what would happen with the over 600 projects which could lose the funding, if the acquisition files are not submitted.
‘Greece takes out to auction habrours and state companies’, the Adevărul reads and explains: the Greek Government is hoping to escape the restructuring of their debts through privatization.

Fees and taxes will be increased to reduce deficit, and the Greek need to resort to austerity measures, if they want to receive the new tranche of loan from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

If the Parliament adopts a final project of the Government, the living of Greeks will increase again: several goods and services will be switched from the 13 percent VAT to the 23 percent VAT, the tax exemptions will be annulled for some sectors and people, the road tax will increase and new taxes will be implemented for natural gas and carbonated beverages.

Also, the Executive is thinking to levy taxes for pensions higher than 1,700 euros, and private companies would pay one percent more for health care contributions to increase the unemployment fund.


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