National Press Review November 1

“Tense weekend with International Monetary Fund”- it is the general tone of the comments in the newspapers of the day, revealing the quarrels that appeared between the Fund’s spokesmen and the Romanian side.

“IMF deals hard with the credit situation”, outlines the newspaper “Romania Liberă”.

Only one day before ending the evaluation visit in Bucharest, the authorities had violent discussions with the Fund. The fights related to modifying Ordinance 50 regarding the credits of population that appeared during negotiating with IMF, could extend the visit of the mission and jeopardize the agreement itself.

Credits law complicates the relation with the IMF, as outlined by the “Adevărul” newspaper. Jeffrey Franks, the representative of the Fund in Romania, criticises the implementing of Ordinance 50 on the former credits, too.

In the “Jurnalul Naţional” newspaper it is outlined that there are “Trouble negotiations with IMF” also mentioning Ordinance 50 while the newspaper “Gândul” reveals that the government has bigger troubles than the former one in respecting the agreement, one of these including the bad debts.

Finally, the newspaper “Evenimentul Zilei” foresees that taxes on work could drop due to the IMF endorsement. In the first form of the cover letter, Fund Commission has generally agreed to loose taxes on work in 2011.

Other topics presented today. We keep on with the “Evenimentul Zilei” newspaper regarding the article “How much obvious advantage do the members of Parliament take from doing business with the state”.

As stated in the newspaper, uninominal members preserve the appearance of not involving themselves in budget money business but meanwhile, their relatives flourish from such contracts, as shown after declaring their declaration of interest according to the new law of the National Integrity Agency.

The feature interview appears at the beginning of the week, in the “Gândul” newspaper: the General Attorney of Romania, Laura Codruţa Kovesi observes that by arresting Sorin Ovidiu Vântu and releasing him after only one week, leaded to losing population’s trust in justice and she also believes that the concept of “social danger” must be defined more exactly. In addition, the General Attorney considers that the identity of “collateral victims” in the transcripts should be protected and declares that she is going to propose this to the Superior Council of Magistracy.

We end leafing newspapers with some news from “Adevărul” where we find the oldest actor in Romania.

At the age of 96 years, Senkalszky Endre keeps on making his audience to vibrate on the stage of the State Hungarian Theatre in Cluj Napoca. His colleagues say that there is something special, unprecedented: the man overflows with energy and there are many times when he overcomes the youngsters.

As a veteran of the stage he has played in more than 200 shows. Senkalszky Endre feels young not only intellectually: he lives on the fourth floor in a flat with no elevator and he goes to the theatre everyday but stairs are not a problem for him.

Translated by: Maricescu Cristina Anamaria and Elena Daniela Radu
MA students, MTTLC, Bucharest University