National Press Review, 31 May 2011

‘PSD-PNL majority behind bars’, the Evenimentul Zilei writes and explains: yesterday for two hours the Opposition was one man short. It served no good purpose because Senator Cătălin Voicu of the party in power could not vote given that he has been arrested for influence peddling.

Yesterday the Democratic Social Party (PSD) and the Liberal National Party (PNL) pulled off a symbolic victory: they transferred a member of the Parliament from the Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) and tipped the balance in their favour.

The joy did not last long because Senator Ioan Toma, who has been recently excluded from the PSD for having conspired with Mircea Geoană to establish another party, announced that he would join the National Union for the Progress of Romania (UNPR).

As a consequence the party in power managed once again to obtain 69 and to secure majority in the Senate.

The Jurnalul Naţional writes that ‘The representative office of the Székely Land will be opened in Brussels tomorrow’. The PSD Eurodeputies have sent a letter to the European officials demanding an explanation and are criticizing the initiative of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR).

The PNL leader, Crin Antonescu, expressed his concern regarding the indifferent attitude of the President, of the Prime Minister and of the Minister of Foreign Affairs towards the establishment of the representative office of the Székely Land, an entity which has no legal status. Last week the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that was trying to clarify the situation.

The same newspaper writes that the Basarab Road Overpass passed the resistance test after having been tested with 13 trams and 26 trucks that weighted almost 1 500 tones. The construction has cost one billion lei, is two-kilometre long and is the widest overpass in Europe.

The Mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, stated that two more days of testing would follow, and probably the overpass would be open on 3 June.

The Adevărul informs its readers that ‘No one will be exempted from vehicle tax.’ The Government will impose the pollution tax on all new cars registered in Romania. Yesterday the government coalition also decided to reduce the pollution tax by 20-30 percent, but the final decision will be taken tomorrow.

The Minister of the Environment, Laszlo Borbely, claims that the people who have already paid the tax on the first registration of their cars which is now considered illegal will not receive their money back. The money will be reimbursed only to those who will win in court. However, this contradicts the point of view of the Minister of Justice.

‘Total imposture at Animal Police’, the Adevărul writes and explains: a Non-governmental organization (NGO), self-proclaimed institution for protecting animals, is using all the emblems of the Romanian Police.

The work vehicles of the Animal Police NGO are inscribed with the word ‘Police’ framed by the colours of the national flag. They are also using a police flasher. The Emergency Ordinance regarding the establishment of foundations and associations prohibits the use of the names of local or national institutions as their own names.

The România Liberă writes about the cases of people infected with the bacteria E. coli in Germany and Spain. The Romanian authorities are reassuring the population that they are not at risk because of the bacteria on the vegetables that killed more than ten people in Germany and that such cases have not been registered in Romania.

According to the spokesperson of the Minister of Health, Oana Grigore, the symptoms of the bacteria E. coli are similar to those of indigestion and can cause death only if the people involved have a week immunity system.

The Director of the National Organisation of Vegetable and Fruit Markets, Aurel Tănase, stated that Romania does not import cucumbers from Spain, and the tomatoes are imported from Jordan and Turkey.

Translated by: Raluca Mizdrea
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University