National Press Review, January 7

‘The Boc government is preparing to borrow another 3.6 billion euros from the International Monetary Fund, within a preventive agreement’ – the Evenimentul Zilei writes, and quotes sources in the government. The same figure is also released by the Gândul, according to which the money will only be accessed in case of emergency.

‘The Romanian authorities seem to prefer an agreement with the Monetary Fund for one year only, the main reason being that in 2012 parliamentary elections will take place. The precise length of the agreement will be determined after today`s meeting of the IMF management, which will decide whether it releases the next 900 millions of euros to Romania.’

The tremendous amount of statements made yesterday in Bucharest on the postponement of the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area is also reflected in today`s newspapers. ‘The Euro-chaos about Schengen’ the Jurnalul Naţional headlines, and continues to write that ‘Hungary is catching the confusion and the conflicting statements about Romania`s accession to the Schengen area.

’ A story published by the German press agency DPA quoted the Minister of Interior in Hungary - country which has taken over the half-yearly presidency of the EU – stating that ‘Romania and Bulgaria`s accession to the Schengen area has been postponed’ from the set deadline – March 2011 – to ‘October the earliest’. Whether it was confirmed or not, the news raised another havoc of declarations and resignation calls.

On the same topic, we read in the România Liberă: ‘the credibility of the Minister of Exterior drops with each statement’, and the newspaper reveals further, I quote, that ‘Left in offside by President Traian Băsescu, Teodor Baconschi is losing ground in the government coalition, also.

The name of his possible replacement - Cristian Diaconescu - is already being conveyed.’
‘The road company is making mistakes in order to pay its state clientele’ – headlines the Jurnalul Naţional, that calculated and reached the following result: from the so-called technical errors, the company`s approved constructors and lawyers are earning 90 million euros, untaxed money from the state. And they explain, I quote: ‘Romania doesn`t have highways, but it does have kings of the asphalt and national infrastructure programs.

The National Company of Motorways and National Roads (NCMNR) is pretending to work with European money, but uses money from the budget to pay for mistakes of millions of euros. In seven years of ISPA funds, the company was required to pay for compensations of over 87 million euros! The beneficiaries of the generous amounts are the constructors. The money is not given for the works. The millions of euros are just speculations on the ‘coincidental’ technical errors of NCMNR.’

The GÂNDUL writes about the state`s money, also, revealing that, after 4 years of pumping money for evaluations, the Minister of Education, Daniel Funeriu, urged by President Băsescu, turns to foreign agents for the ranking of faculties. In the midst of a crisis in financial resources, with a budget for education lower than last year, The Ministry of Education is preparing to spend over 4 millions of euros for the evaluation of universities, process which had already been made by its subordinate agency.

‘The crisis in the wallet has increased pessimism on Romanians’ – the Adevărul headlines. Almost half of our fellow citizens state, without thinking too much, that 2010 was a bad year, and referring to the new year, the degree of pessimism is even higher – according to a study released by the Romanian Institute for Assessment and Strategy. The number of Romanians who afforded to go on holiday abroad has decreased and so has the money spent on entertainment and books.

According to the results of the survey, almost 40 percent have unpaid debts, the most indebted being the Moldavians, while the residents of Bucharest and Constanta rank first among those who had to give bribes. The elderly are by far the most concerned, while the young are trying to adapt to the changes.

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