National Press Review, January 19

‘Băsescu wants electoral anti-corruption on the state’s money’ – the Evenimentul Zilei headlines.

The President claims that politicians would be separated from their clientele if its campaign sponsorships are replaced with funding from the state budget.

Traian Băsescu proposed that all local and parliamentary candidates be allocated the same amount from the state budget to cover campaign expenses.
In turn, the Gândul calculated ‘How much costs Traian Băsescu’s idea to give 11,600 euros from the budget for local and parliamentary candidates’.

From the newspaper’s calculation, the campaign alone will sum up to over 20 million euros.

The situation is even more complicated for the local elections, because there are many local elected from non-parliamentary parties or independent. In 2008, for example, 362,000 candidates participated.

The President did not whether the campaign for independent candidates and non-parliamentary parties should also be funded by the state.

‘The campaign on public money – a complete nonsense’ – is the opinion of the Adevărul, which thus argues: ‘the idea of budget funding the electoral campaign could cost the state huge amounts of money, as the number of candidates can be unlimited.’

‘The fear of villages: the tax on fallow land’ – the Adevărul also headlines.

‘The stake of the draft designed by the Ministry of Agriculture which stipulates a fine of 400 lei for uncultivated land is to restore the land for agriculture use.’ Over a million hectares have been laying fallow for several years.

The farmers and businessmen believe that the ‘tax on fallow land’ is an inappropriate measure and the higher taxation of uncultivated land would have been a more efficient solution.

‘Patients die, doctors come back to their jobs. The health care system remains in arrears in solving several key-problems’ – is the conclusion reached by journalists in the România Liberă, after presenting several cases of doctors that were suspended by the College of Physicians for medical errors and afterwards, they regained the right to practice in court.

‘There are many doctor who have been reinstated by the court, because our Administrative Organs, especially the management of hospitals which are usually established according to political grounds, don’t quite follow the Labour Code.’

'They think they are masters of their domain and they can do whatever they want’, doctor Vasile Astărăstoaie, the President of the College of Physicians states.

The Jurnalul Naţional publishes an article from the famous American newspaper The Washington Post, in which Romania is described as a nostalgic, post-communist country, where citizens contemplate a hero to whom they can relate.

‘Today, when the new member state of the European Union is facing an economic chaos and an increase in the gap between rich and poor, more and more people begin to remember, rather than the problems they had in the last years of Ceauşescu’s regime, the times when, in exchange for obedience, his regime would give them the minimum necessary – the newspaper across the ocean reads and outlines the fact that Valentin Ceauşescu, son of the former communist, ‘is viewed positively by Romanians.’
‘People started coming to me and asking me why I don’t run for president’ - Valentin Ceauşescu declared for the Washington Post.

‘The anti-communist barricade has lost another hero- Cristian Paţurcă’ – the Evenimentul Zilei headlines.

Actually, all today’s newspapers write about the disappearance of the one who animated the anti-communist movement in the University Square.

The author of ‘The Hooligan’s Anthem’ passed away yesterday, at just 46 years.

One of the artist’s wishes, expressed during his life, was that when he died, he would be cremated and his ashes would be spread in the University Square.

His friends will honour his wish.

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