National Press Review 3 June

Today's papers commented in wide pages on the draft amendment of the Constitution, which President Traian Băsescu gave details of, two days ago.

’The Constitution after Băsescu: since 2007 EU awaited the seizure of illegal wealth.’

The Evenimentul Zilei wrote that Romania should have amended the constitution four years ago in order to allow the fight against corruption to go all the way in. The National Agency for Fiscal Administration will begin to pursue wealthy patrons who have businesses in the red.

‘Hidden fortunes hunting starts’ – the România Liberă as well announced on the first page with capital letters. The government issued a document establishing a special department, part of the FISC, which will exclusively be in charge of checking the large fortunes. However, some tax consultants – the România Liberă continued – said that the new structure could be used for the harassment of business people that were hostile to the Government.

The newspaper Adevărul presented on two pages the most important points of the draft revision of the Constitution, under the title ‘Overview and content of Băsescu’s Constitution,’ while the Jurnalul Naţional noted that the opposition reacted harshly to the president’s draft. ‘There is not a draft Constitution, but a science fiction scenario’ and ‘Traian Băsescu smuggles the Constitution’ were cuts from the statements coming from the opposition and reported yesterday by the Jurnalul.

Other topics in the news today. The Evenimentul Zilei: ‘Port bribe, episode 2. Pylons have also been stolen.’ A former building engineer, who has been in the port of Constanţa even since the ‘60s, made the historic the X-ray of the area and the one of the... bribes in the area.

The Jurnalul Naţional: ‘200,000 Romanians have their calls tracked.’ The data refer to 2008 and are official. Bucharest newspaper considered that the Ministry of Justice was cynical when stating that there were minimal intrusions into the lives of people and that ‘the reasonable suspicions’ of he prosecutors were a too weak reason for the start of wiretaps.

Finally, all the newspapers of the day reported tonight's match, Romania – Bosnia. The Adevărul even opened his edition with this topic and headlined with capital letters on the first page: ‘Are we dead yet or are we still moving?’ Victoria was the only option for Romania in order to get a place at the Euro 2012. But Bosnia – the Adevărul wrote – had a more expensive and more experienced team.

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