Loading ...Jurnalul national remarks that Parliament on Wednesday voted against the investiture of the Cabinet assembled by Prime Minister-designate Croitoru, and the ball is now in the court of President Traian Basescu, who will have to come up with another designation. Nonetheless, the paper says, Romania’s stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) can be carried on, as Parliament passed a decision under which it asks the caretaker Boc Government to submit to it a draft 2010 Budget.
Ziarul financiar notes that the 14-minister Cabinet assembled by Prime Minister-designate Croitoru was predictably voted down in Parliament, despite Parliament’s apocalyptic warning that if Parliament fails to put a halt to the ongoing political crisis and install a Government, Romania will need an additional 1.5 billion euros that will add to more than 3.5 billion euros already contemplated, in order to pass the year.
Business Standard notes that for the first time in Romania’s post-Communist history, the country’s Parliament refuses to vote in a government. The moment is critical, the paper says, as the arrangement with the IMF is in danger of slipping at a time when financing has become increasingly more expensive. The Government assembled by Prime Minister-designate Lucian Croitoru failed the investiture test in Parliament, as the MPs voted 250 to 189 against it. It would have taken 236 ayes for the Cabinet to pass.
Gardianul remarks that head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission in Romania Jeffrey Franks let it be understood that the IMF will accept any solutions proposed by Romania, provided that they will help the country keep within the Government deficit limits, because it is understandable that reforms advance slowly during election time.
The paper quotes Franks as saying the IMF will indeed be flexible about the means Romania will use to cut the government deficit, but it will be inflexible about the 5.9-percent deficit target for 2010. He hinted that public spending has to be reduced, either through pay cuts of lay-offs, and the future Romanian Government will have to decide where to cut, says Business Standard. More than 100,000 public employees could be targeted for lay-off as well as some tens of thousands of workers at Government-subsidised companies. The Government pays out half a billion euro a year in subsidies to the companies that are now monitored by the IMF, that employs 100,000 people in all. Among these companies are CFR Calatori, Metrorex and the National Pit Coal Company.
Cotidianul reports that the European Association of Banks has decided to simplify account transfer procedures, but the Romanian bankers seem not to have learned about it, because they are first and foremost busy rounding up their profits. The paper notes that, according to the European Commission, European Union consumers, Romania excluded, will have an easier time transferring their accounts from one bank to another within the same member state.
The papers quote President Traian Basescu as announcing that animal farmers may go to the CEC Savings and Loan House to cash in 90 percent of the subsidies paid out by the Government, with 10 percent of it being withheld by CEC in fees.
The papers quote the National Center for the Prevention and Control of Contagious Diseases as saying the A/H1N1 flu cases in Romania was standing at 672 as of Wednesday morning. Tuesday through Wednesday there were 100 new cases confirmed in Romania, most of them in Bucharest.
Gardianul notes that the law concerning the reorganisation of public authorities and institutions and the law concerning a uniform pay system in the public sector are both constitutional, reporting that on Wednesday, the Constitutional Court ruled the that the two laws, for which the Government has assumed political responsibility, are indeed constitutional. The uniform pay system law is of vital importance to the public employees, because it establishes the pay scale for nearly 1.4 million public employees.
Gandul reports that more than 68,000 Romanians have their bank accounts frozen by the tax authorities because they failed to pay their taxes in the first eight months of 2009 According to data with the National Tax Administration Agency (ANAF), the frozen accounts are standing at 75.5 million euros.
Evenimentul zilei remarks that the European Film Academy prizes, the European Oscars, will be presented this year in the German town of Bochum. Among the 48 productions standing a big chance of winning prizes are three Romanian films: ‘Police, adjective,’ the short film ‘Renovation’ and the Romanian-Hungarian-British co-production ‘Katalin Varga.’
The papers also report that Unirea Urziceni football team tied Glasgow Rangers 1-1 (0-0) in a Wednesday UEFA Champions League Group G match in Bucharest. The tie keeps Unirea in the race for the next stage of the Champions League.
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