National Press Review June 15

ADEVĂRUL headlines: "Boc resigns as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party" referring to the results of yesterday’s meeting of the party executive. The newspaper lists the resigners and includes the former Prime Minister, Emil Boc’s arguments for the decision made by the leadership. The publication also offers details on the tensions within the Liberal Democratic Party created by the opposition between those who wanted the leaders of the party to leave and those who might have preferred less extreme measures.

Under the title "PDL, torn between Boc and Blaga", ROMÂNIA LIBERĂ comments that the disputes risen during the meeting which should have cleared the air among members of the Liberal Democratic Party following the loss at the local elections, in fact, revealed a state of tension obvious for quite time. The fight for power continues between the Vasile Blaga and the Emil Boc camps, and the author of the article believes that the tie number of votes registered yesterday evening at the party’s internal vote on the change in leadership comes as reinforcement. Moreover, it is stated that the local barons seem to have discussed the possibility of separating Traian Băsescu’s persona from the image of the party because, according to România Liberă, his popularity ranks below the quota of the LDP. The publication also presents fragments of the reproaches addressed by the liberal democrats to Elena Udrea, who was in charge of the PDL organisation in Bucharest, and to Roberta Anastase, President of the Chamber of Deputies.

In JURNALUL NAŢIONAL , we read that "Băsescu and Ponta didn’t see eye to eye" during the meeting held at Cotroceni, when they discussed who will represent Romania at the European Council from June 28. The publication gives an overview of the evolution of yesterday’s conversations between Prime Minister Victor Ponta and President Traian Băsescu on the topic, also presenting the opinion of former President Ion Iliescu and mentioning that the Prime Minster and the head of state will meet again to discuss this matter.

On a different topic, EVENIMENTUL ZILEI draws our attention on the fact that "Prices are expected to increase again in July ".

According to the newspaper, although Romania has managed to establish the lowest inflation rates in the European Union so far, only one year after it had occupied first place in this respect, the situation may be reversed, now that the static effects have dissipated. The publication claims that the National Statistics Institute’s data for the month of May no longer correspond to those collected by Eurostat, as the latter show that, already starting last month, the inflation recorded an increase. Nonetheless, Romania’s inflation rate remains one of the lowest in the UE. Details on this turn of events, as well as on its impact on prices are available in the daily’s pages.

Translated by: Cristina Baciu, MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University