Financiarul

Romania’s national dailies of Tuesday give main coverage to the possible matches for the presidential runoff as indicated by the latest polls; the chances of Prime Minister-designate Lucian Croitoru forming a Government; the prospects for the local currency, the leu (RON), in its struggle with economic and political crisis; public employees’ trade unions having postponed an all-out strike indefinitely.

Libertatea quotes President Traian Basescu as having told Radio France International on Monday that he would like to face off chief or the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) Mircea Geoana in the presidential runoff, but he believes he will have to run against chief of the opposition National Liberal Party (PNL) Crin Antonescu.

Evenimentul zilei remarks that Sibiu Mayor Klaus Johannis, the Opposition nominee for the office of prime minister, proves to be a good electoral agent for Crin Antonescu, who jumped 6 percentage points in a recent CSOP mega-poll after promoting Johannis for office.

The CSOP poll indicates that Antonescu garnered 13 percent of the vote intentions in a September 17 – October 7 survey, but a poll conducted October 16-18 shows Antonescu now enjoying 19 percent of the vote intentions. President Traian Basescu, still topping the poll, lost two percentage points between the two polls, from 37 percent to 35 percent, while Geoana of PSD remained constant at 24 percent.

Romania libera notes that PSD and PNL are asking President Basescu to put a halt to what they call no-chance attempts of Prime Minister-designate Croitoru to establish a ministerial team and accept instead negotiations over Johannis becoming the prime minister. In the meantime, Croitoru is said to have tried to tempt Geoana with an unacceptable proposal: two-three PSD nominations for the Ministry of Administration and Interior, a proposal that was rejected.

Evenimentul zilei remarks that if PSD, PNL and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) remain anti-Croitoru, the Democratic-Liberal Party (PD-L), minority at rule, will consider submitting to Parliament for approval a Cabinet of PD-L technocrats. Five days after designation, Croitoru is still counting on PD-L’s support only. At a first round of talks with PD-L leaders on Monday at the party’s headquarters, Croitoru came up with a suggestion for a leaner Government, with fewer ministries.

Gandul notes that history is repeating itself as the local currency, the leu (RON) looks again like a probable immediate victim of the current political scandals. Much as last year, the paper says, when the National Bank of Romania (BNR) scarified the leu so that the Finance Ministry may find money to cover the Government deficit, the end of 2009 bodes hard times for the currency.

After having cut off Romania’s external fund sources, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission and the World Bank as well as Euro-bonds, the Romanian politicians, with their electoral scandals, are now endangering the exchange rate as well. If BNR will be forced to float money on the market so that the banks may give it to the Finance Ministry, the exchange rate will be hard to defend, says the paper.

Ziua remarks that irrespective of who will become the next president or whether the new Government will be called Croitoru or Johannis, 2010 promises to be a deadly year for the pockets of Romanians. The paper quotes PricewaterhousCoopers (PwC) as having said on Monday that electricity will be 30 percent more expensive, petrol 20 percent and cigarettes more than 34 percent more expensive, all from January 1, 2010.

The papers report that the public employees’ trade unions are considering postponing their all-out strike indefinitely; they are saying now the final decision will be taken after consultations with the local organisations, although the result of a previous referendum on the strike was in favour of the protest.

The papers say the reason behind the strike decision would be the seasonal political fighting, quoting leader of the Federation of Teachers’ Free Trade unions Aurel Cornea as saying there is a possibility of protests being postponed until after the presidential election, but a final decision will be taken at the level of the leading boars of the local organisations.

The papers note that Romania has one of the least sustainable public pension systems in the European Union, being among the countries facing the biggest long-term risks in this respect.

A report of the European Commission indicates that in the next 50 years Romania’s spending on public pensions as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will increase from 8.4 percent in 2010 to 15.8 percent in 2060, placing the country 5th among the EU-27 countries in these terms. Romania’s population is predicted to stand at 16.9 million, 53.6 percent of which will be aged between 15 and 64, compared with 70 percent in 2010. Ziua notes that the state pension systems is a time bomb; Gardianul remarks that Romania has one of the least sustainable public pension systems in the EU, the same remark made by Curentul.

The papers report that the judges of the German ‘SuperTalent’ television show have been very impressed by the talent of a Romanian contester, Petruta Cecilia Kupper, a young girl who emigrated from Romania one year ago. She performed ‘The Lonely Shepherd’ song from the ‘Kill Bill’ soundtrack on a pan flute. Her participation in the show was to help her sick sister.