What the newspapers say: January 17, 2011

There are three Romanian institutions that attempt to improve Romania’s image abroad, but do they succeed in any way, one newspaper wonders on Monday. Elsewhere in the news, one newspaper gives out the reasons why Hungarian Democrats would not leave the governing party to join the opposition. Last but not least, Romanian organized crime networks compel children to beg in Great Britain.

Gandul reads on Monday about the three big institutions: Tourism ministry, Agency for Governmental Strategy and the Romanian Cultural Center that would have to defend and improve Romania’s image abroad. The newspaper reads that in the last years, Romania was the target of many public shenanigans against Romanians and no official has seen fit to answer them in one way or another.

Former director of the Agency for Governmental Strategies, Alfred Bulai declared for the newspaper that the officials should not answer because the most suitable reaction to irony is another irony. He said that this is normal, since the English laugh of the French, and vice versa. Romania became more visible since it joined the EU and it is normal for such ironies to appear. But the best way to build the image of a country is through various press institutions, NGOs which are very efficient.

The Agency spent 8 million euro for public campaigns in Italy and Spain to improve the image of the Romanians living there.

The Romanian Cultural Institute, that promotes Romanian culture abroad, holds a 2011 budget of 44,000,000 lei of which 75% are allocated for cultural programs. The Institute’s President, Horia Roman Patapevici declared that he will not react to the shows or videos that mock up Romania.

He said that the Romanian culture is the best thing Romania has got.

At his turn, Romania’s tourism ministry has 72 million euro from EU funds for five years to promote the image of the country abroad. A marketing plan will be finished this month which will read where and who the Tourism ministry will promote Romania’s image.

Evenimentul Zilei gives out the reasons why the Hungarian Democrats would not change majority and prefer the opposition. The opposition would do anything to convince the Hungarian Democrats to give up power and join them against the Democrat Liberals.

However, the newspaper believes that this will not happen because that would mean that the Hungarian Democrats would lose all benefits related to their current position. Plus, the Hungarian Democrats have no reasons to be dissatisfied because their main requests were respected by their governing partner.

On the other hand, the Union also received funds for the local administration and generally, the leaders of the Hungarian Democratic Party were rational in their decisions. The leaders generally looked for their own interest and the interest of the group in general.

Second, the costs of leaving the governing coalition would be too high for the Union and the gains of such a move too law because the party has no assurance that it will be part of the government. In the same time, Hungarian Democrats were loyal to power historically.

In the last 14 years, the Hungarian Democrats were always part of the government which proves this idea. So the threats of the Social Democrats that they will not accept the Hungarian Democrats in a coalition in 2012 are not trustworthy because if they will need the party to reach majority, they will most surely try to persuade them.

Romania libera reads how five year olds are taught by Romanian gangs to steal from shops and pickpocket on the streets in Great Britain. The newspaper quotes Daily Express that reads that children can gain up to 600,000 sterling pounds in five years before they are 10 years old when they can be officially accused if caught.

The details of the gang were discovered in an investigation by Europol. The operation starts off in Romania where mobsters sell children with over 16,000 sterling pounds for each to their counterparts in Great Britain. According to Europol, each child sold can bring a profit of 120,000 pounds/year and some gangs exploit up to 100 children.

This means that a gangster living in Romania can earn up to 12 million sterling pounds/year by placing children who steal, pickpocket and beg in Great Britain.