National Press Review, 27 January

Most newspapers write about the heavy snow that brought Romania to a standstill.

Under the headline ‘Romania Buried under Snow’, the Jurnalul Naţional writes about how many drivers were blocked in traffic and how much the water, air and railway transport services were affected by the freezing weather.

The Adevărul covers the same topic, but writes about natural gas reserves as well.
The general manager of Transgaz, Florin Cosma, stated in an interview for the aforementioned newspaper that the amount of natural gas in storage for winter would last only half of the winter season and that Romania would have to buy the additional necessary gas at a price three times higher than the internal market price.

The Adevărul also headlines ‘IMF Imposes Harsher Requirements on Government’.

The author of the newspaper article informs readers that the international financial organisation will once more revise the gloomy financial increase forecast for 2012, taking into account the extremely unfavourable European financial context.

Romania will maintain its budget deficit target. However, according to the newspaper, it will be harder to achieve, considering that by the end of the current year the GDP will be smaller than anticipated.

Moreover, the Adevărul also writes about the effects of the liberalisation of gas and electricity markets.

Moving on to another topic, the România Liberă announces ‘Pragmatism Rules PNL: No Resignations on Agenda’.

The newspaper makes the summary of the alternatives discussed by the Social-Liberal Union (USL) in view of forcing the party in power to agree to early elections.

At the same time, the România Liberă analyses the consequences of the Opposition’s decision to withdraw from the legislative.

Finally, the Evenimentul Zilei writes ‘Illegal Preparatory Class Lists’.
The announcement was made by the Ministry of Education, who warned parents that the current list was not valid.

The Ministry will carry out a census on the children who have the right age to go to school by 18 February and therefore, the parent’s options will be officially registered. The official signing up will start in March, according to the Evenimentul Zilei. The newspaper gives details about the schedule that has already been approved by the Ministry of Education.

Translated by: Raluca Mizdrea
MTTLC, Bucharest University