What the newspapers say: January 8, 2008

Bucharest citizens will have to wait for the snow that fell massively last week to melt as clearing up the snow is too costly, one newspaper reads on Tuesday. In the same vein, in Constanta, South East Romania, snow clearing has a political scent. And one newspaper puts forward the plan President Basescu and his party, the Democrat Liberals (PD-L) have for the year ahead.

Cotidianul reads that each citizen would have to pay about 40 euro for the snow to be entirely cleared up in Bucharest. The 100 million meters of snow paralyzing Romania’s capital city challenges both the nerves of citizens and of authorities.

Moreover, garbage clearing companies cannot reach the stacks of garbage where snow is not cleared. Nor can ambulances reach their patients in due time.

The main reason of the turmoil is that snow clearing companies contracted by local authorities do not have the obligation to clear the snow on secondary streets or evacuate the snow away from the city.

Rosal snow clearing company manager Silviu Prigoana said that local authorities would have to pay some 100 million euro if they want the snow out of their way. He adds that in his contract with the 3rd District City Hall it is stipulated to clear some 30% of the snow but not a word on clearing the remaining snow from the streets.

Because the process costs so much, Bucharest deputy mayor Razvan Murgeanu says that snow will be cleared away from main crossroads and boulevards only.

Gandul on the other hand reads that snow clearing in Constanta, South East Romania has become a political competition among Liberals and Social Democrats.

The paper reads that initially, the Social-Democratic deputy mayor Gabriel Stan has reached out to the Liberal chief of the regional department of roads Jean-Paul Tucan to clear the snow on the main streets of the port city of Constanta.

However, after Tucan sent some utility machines hoping to clear some roads in downtown Constanta, Stan suddenly remembered his political affiliation and urged Tucan to withdraw the utilities from the roads.

On the political side, Evenimentul Zilei puts forward the plan President Traian Basescu has for the upcoming year to counter the Liberal government.

Namely, it seems that Basescu will revive the duo that would apply a power sharing arrangement formed of him as President and ex-Liberal Theodor Stolojan as prime minister, a duo initially created before the 2004 elections when Stolojan withdraw from the political competition accusing health problems.

The paper claims that the official announcement will be made after the local and parliamentary elections.