What the newspapers say: April 14, 2008

Another Monday when nothing is what it seems to be: state employees, considered as the poorest in Romania, have 100 kinds of incentives that make their income up to five times larger than the average wage in Romania. The governing party, Liberals (PNL) have no people to govern with. The hypermarket cheap food in, in fact, much more expensive than it should be. And so on.

State employees benefit from over 100 types of incentives that make the income of public servants five times larger then the average wage in the Romanian economy. According to the Finance Ministry, policemen benefit from 19 kinds of incentives, followed by the Army employees – 16 types, and teachers – 12 types, Cotidianul reads.

But not everyone is happy to gain more money. Nokia, for example, seems to be facing some problems, after the Jucu industrial park managers found that the company intends to invest more then the initial 50 million euro. Tetarom manager Viorel Gavrea explains that „In this case, the industrial park rules do not apply anymore and the European Commission must decide whether the company may benefit from state incentives or not”, Romania Libera informs.

In politics, the Tariceanu cabinet is in search of a Foreign Minister. Prime Minister Tariceanu declared that a career diplomat is wanted. A short list of four names is currently discussed, but some Liberal vice presidents seem to support the transfer of Teodor Melescanu from the Defense Ministry to the Foreign Ministry, Evenimentul Zilei found out. Melescanu was also used as a jolly joker when the Liberals failed to name a Justice minister.

Also in politics, Democrat-Liberal executive secretary Elena Udrea declared this weekend that Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu is pathetic and embarrassing, both as a politician and a man. The „presidential blonde” is upset with Tariceanu’s previous statements, saying that „Udrea and some jackals hunt state properties”, Gandul informs.

In the older scandal of hypermarket taxes, Cotidianul took the testimony of a company providing products to the Metro chain of hypermarkets. An „entry tax”, to be able to sell your goods (up to 10,000 euro), a shelf tax, a replacement tax (in case you want to change the product you sell), a marketing tax of 7% of the business figure, a service tax (2% of the business figure) and, at the moment when you want to get the money you’re left with, a 1% interim tax for the company that makes the centralized payments for the group, Cotidianul counts.