What the newspapers say: November 25, 2010 

City halls sketch their budgets for Christmas decorations but it does not seem that they consider the crisis. Elsewhere in the news, IMF chief said Romania is on the verge of a cliff while the government sees the positive side, yet again. In Moldova, citizens are summoned to vote their Parliament.

The spirit of Christmas takes over city hall budgets, Gandul reads. Bucharest district 3 city hall estimated an expense of 114,402 euro to decorate a local park for Christmas. 3D images of Santa Claus, a castle, a snowman, a 2 meter angel, sleigh, x-mas trees and other decorations are on their minds.

Not only Bucharest makes detailed plans for this Christmas but also all city halls across the country. Cities in Moldova, North Romania will spend their Christmas under the sign of the crisis as they decided to use last year’s decorations and some even decided to use just half of what they used a year before.

In Brasov, authorities will allocate half the budget this year compared to last year. Timisoara, in West Romania will allocate half the budget, 30,000 euro while the rest will come from private companies – about 36,000 euro.

Evenimentul Zilei reads that Romania is on the verge of a cliff according to the IMF chief Dominique Strauss Kahn. PM Boc considers however that the executive is working on avoiding any derails.

Strauss Kahn considers that Romania, together with Greece, Ireland, Hungary and Latvia need to cut costs even more. In his opinion, these countries need tougher policies to recover. These countries are still vulnerable, poorer and in great danger, Strauss Kahn said.

In the interpretation of the Prime Minister the declaration is an alarm for the risks implied by the adoption of populist measures, like the artificial increase of pensions or salaries. PM Boc said that probably, Strauss Kahn implied that if Romania will attempt to exit the crisis through populist measures, the country will be in great danger.

PM Boc said that the government is working full speed to avoid payment incapacity.

Romania libera reads that Moldovans elect their legislative on Sunday. Surveys reveal that the Alliance for European Integration might elect, finally a President. However, the problem is that the alliance does not exist.

All surveys published this month showed that the four parties of the alliance might get over 61 mandates necessary elect a president that would designate a stable government.

The four leaders of the Alliance promised Europeans to stick together after elections but they could not manage to find consensus over a president. Moreover, the alliance broke as the four parties decided to run for themselves and compete for the same electorate among themselves.

If the four leaders will not manage to find consensus for these elections, the leaders of the Alliance risk compromising the European destiny of the country. This year, the newspaper reads, Moldova made more progress than in the last 20 years. They received firm support insurance from Brussels, they signed an association agreement with the EU and started processes to waive visas.