National Press Review, 28 November

The România Liberă headlines “Who is preparing for the Senate presidency?” and describes the atmosphere in the upper house of the Parliament following Mircea Geoană's dismissal from this position, considering that there are disputes over which political group should take over the portfolio.

The publication notes that senators do not want to wait for the decision of the Constitutional Court on 7 December, which should decide on Geoană's dismissal - and the parties each claim their right to designate a candidate for the Senate presidency.

The topic can be found in the Adevărul. The newspaper remarks that the UDMR might have had several solicitations during the coalition negotiations on the candidate for the Senate presidency. However, there are listed the liberal democrats that could be nominated, while the PDL did not yet make an official announcement in this regard.

The Curierul Naţional announces “Increasing salaries and pensions would break the law”, quoting the Fiscal Council. According to the article, the mentioned authority considers that an increase in revenues at the half of the next year would violate the provisions established by the Fiscal Responsibility Law. Also there are expected consequences of such measures on the budget deficit, which is targeted at 1.9 percent of GDP.

The Jurnalul Naţional writes “2012 budget is ambiguous”, referring to the unclear points the Fiscal Council observed in the next year's draft budget and gives an overview of these points. In addition, there are noted the recommendations the Fiscal Council made to the Government and the warning related to the fact that “the missing the deficit target will be perceived as a skid”.

Also the Jurnalul Naţional reveals exclusively: “Timişoara City Hall made its road company to go bankrupt.” The publication states that “the bankruptcy fraud was discovered by the Court of Auditors” and details how it came to that conclusion.

Finally, the Evenimentul Zilei publishes an interview with Romania's General Prosecutor Laura Codruţa Kovesi. She stated, among other things, that 'prosecutors have investigated the intangible areas so far' and she announced that she works on a guide of the unification of judicial practice so the “playing arrests” is avoided in the future.

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