After the parliamentary majority leaders declined an invitation by Prime Minister designate Liviu Negoita to take part in talks on the formation of a new government, Negoita proposed them to vote for his cabinet for the sole purpose of allowing Romania to get the IMF money. Negoita suggested the majority leaders to sack the government after this goal is attained, the Jurnalul National reports.
The prime minister designate wants to include in his cabinet both ministers from the Boc government and from former Prime Minister designate Lucian Croitoru’s executive. Negoita stands small chances of getting Parliament’s vote before the elections for president due on Nov. 22, even though the list of his candidates for the ministries will be sent the legislature on Monday, the Evenimentul zilei writes.
As Negoita failed to garner the politicians’ support, with some of the senior parliamentary party leaders not even willing to talk to him, the new prime minister designate called on the citizens on Sunday to persuade those they voted for in the National Liberal Party (PNL) and Social Democratic Party (PSD) to do what is good for the country – i.e. to vote for his government.
‘While the leaders of the two parties did not even want to see me, maybe the citizens will be more successful in seeing the respected parliamentarians of the PSD and PNL and persuade them to vote for the cabinet I propose and which Romania badly needs’, the Gandul quotes Negoita as saying.
The Bucharest-based papers carry such headlines on this topic as: ‘Negoita comes to Parliament with Croitoru’s programme and with part of his ministers’ (Gardianul); ‘Negoita cabinet is bracing itself for the showdown’ (Romania libera), ‘(President Traian) Basescu levels accusations, Negoita waits at Victoria Palace in vain’ (Cronica Romana).
President Traian Basescu’s plans to dissolve Parliament, according to the constitutional levers, in case the legislature rejects at least two prime ministers designate is criticised by reasonable arguments put forward by legal experts, politicians and constitutional specialists. According to a majority of the opinions voiced at a request by the Cotidianul, the future president of Romania, no matter who he is, will not be able to dissolve Parliament because of a political crisis – such as the fall of a government in a no confidence vote, or the failure of one or two prime ministers designate to get Parliament’s vote of confidence – inherited from the previous presidential tenure.
Former President Ion Iliescu enjoys most Romanians’ approval for what he did in the last 20 years, reveals a sociological research conducted by CURS pollsters for the Jurnalul National exclusively. Furthermore, a majority of the Romanians believe Iliescu is the best post-1989 president of Romania and they say Social Democrat Adrian Nastase, whom Iliescu named prime minister during his last term (2000-2004) is the best post-Dec. 1989 premier.
The unions are determined to find ways to protest the wage cuts and the forced vacation set by the government for the last two months of this year. The teachers consider taking the forced unpaid days off at the elections, while other unionists will meet to decide whether to resume the protests suspended in October, the Cotidianul reports.
The employees in education, health care and the public workers are dissatisfied that the president promulgated the unified wage law and the law on the restructuring of the governmental agencies, the Azi reports.
Romania will pay a literally high cost for having not been disbursed the third tranche of the IMF loan of 1.5 billion euros and the third tranche from the European Commission of one billion euros, with both loan instalments being delayed till next year.
The money will have to be borrowed anyway by year-end in order to cover the state’s financial needs, but it will be at much higher interest rates and by pushing the population even deeper into debt, the Gandul writes.
‘It is a big problem, given that the total amount (the state needs by year-end – editor’s note) has gone up to five billion euros so far’, the daily quotes advisor to the National Bank of Romania’s governor, Adrian Vasilescu as saying.
The Romanian state has so far borrowed from the banks as much as it could, with the banks having reached the maximal exposure per client. Therefore, little money has been left for loans to the economy and the population, the Cotidianul points out.
Chief of the IMF Mission in Romania Jeffrey Franks stressed there is time to disburse the third loan instalment in December, but added such time is very little.
The IMF anticipates Romania will record budget deficit of 7.8 percent of GDP, up from the previously agreed 7.3 percent of GDP. European Commission official Elena Flores stressed that if Romania approves the 2010 budget and settles its political issues, the European Union will disburse the money.
Headlines carried by Monday’s print media on this topic: ‘The delayed IMF tranche pulls the Stock Exchange prices down’ (Gandul), ‘The government suffocates Romania’ (Cotidianul), ‘The IMF delegation has withdrawn’ (Azi), ‘Romania needs five billion euros by year-end without the IMF and European Commission money’ (Gardianul).
National Bank of Romania (BNR) governor Mugur Isarescu for the first time calls on the bankers to cut the loan interests significantly, the Ziarul financiar says;
it reports Isarescu underscored that the difference between the interests charged by the banks to the national currency lending at 14-19 percent per annum and the BNR key rate of 8 percent is huge.
It is for the first time that Isarescu openly criticises the banks for their too high interests. However, the bankers stand by their opinion that the interest rates cannot be cut too much without fresh impulse from the BNR, the daily adds.
‘We are becoming primeval’ – this is how psychologists explain the TV audience’s taste for the reality shows that are run by the Romanian television channels in high number.
The ratings of such reality shows remain high even after several seasons, in spite of the fact that many televisions ’spoil the suspense’ by revealing that the love stories, hate or envy stories that keep the audiences glued to the screen are re-made with hired actors, not with the real characters. ‘Reality shows are addictive’, the Evenimentul zilei concludes.
Loading ...
Comentează acest articol