What the newspapers say: June 21, 2007

Meteorologists have issued a heat warning for at least 22 counties in Romania for the next part of the week as extremely warm weather is already taking its toll, newspapers inform on Thursday.

Also in the papers today, former President Ion Iliescu, under inquiry for violent street events in Bucharest 17 years ago, might have received good news yesterday as a Court decided that all cases involving both militaries and civilians will be judged in civil courts and not in military ones, as previously done.

And one paper talks about ex-Soviet interest groups infiltrated in Romanian domestic politics and economy, with serious repercussions.

Evenimentul Zilei informs that 11 people died in Bucharest alone due to extremely hot weather in the last 24 hours. The Government declared state of calamity for agriculture and offered to pay almost 150.000 Euros for the damages caused.

Plus, local authorities took measures to protect the population by setting in key city locations first aid tents where people can measure their tension or have a glass of water. Similar measures were taken in other counties.

Not even hospitals are prepared to face the extreme wave of heat that hit Bucharest, Evenimentul Zilei reports.

Air conditioning systems seem to be overwhelmed, which causes the medical equipment to malfunction, the operations room to reach over 30 degrees Celsius and patients facing other medical risks such as high tension or vascular accidents.

Gandul, on a more optimistic tone, gives advices on how ‘to defend’ ourselves from the heat. Protection glasses, hats and a minimum of 2-4 liters of water per day will minimize the heat effects.

On the other hand, Romania libera focuses more on the economic effects of the drought. The paper cites officials from the National Administration in Meteorology, who compare the events with those of 1946, when Romania faced severe drought and was threatened with hunger.

Experts say there has to be taken immediate measures to save water due to its need to irrigate lands.

Elsewhere in the papers today, Cotidianul reports about a Constitutional Court decision that all cases in which both militaries and civilians are involved, will be judged in civil courts and not in military ones, as previously done.

The decision, taken for an anonymous case, has serious repercussions upon important dossiers like those of the Romanian Revolution and the miners’ violent intervention in Bucharest in June 13-15 1990, when they were summoned by the President of the time, Ion Iliescu, to repress a major anti-communist demonstration.

The newspaper argues that Iliescu, charged of crimes against humanity, had an indirect influence upon the Court decision because most of its members are former members of or closely related to the Social Democratic Party, where he now serves as honorary president.

Evenimentul Zilei says that the consequences of the Court decision are not to be neglected: the cases are delayed to an unknown date since it takes time for the new civil courts to familiarize themselves with the cases.

Speaking of the impact of ex-communists on present times, Romania libera discusses a Romanian Intelligence Service report for the year of 2005 that draws attention to interest groups from ex-Soviet countries that have infiltrated Romania’s politics and economy.

The report argues that the infiltrations increase corruption and support interest groups in their goal to influence the country’s energy and other sectors in their own interest. Organized crime groups from ex-Soviet countries are also blamed for changing the quality and the production of petroleum products.

Gandul cites a TopTenReviews statistics, quoted by NetBridge, an online advertising company, in which Romania scores third in world porn searches after Bolivia and Chile. In terms of „Top Ten” porn searchers worldwide, Romania outclassed Slovenia and Lithuania, who reached 8th and 9th.

According to NetBridge, every second, 28.528 internet users access porn sites and 372 users utilize search engines to access such a website.

Also in the papers today:

• Gandul reports that 200.000 euro stand in between the breakup of the D.A Alliance. The sum is the equivalent of the campaign costs of the Alliance in 2004 and needs to be paid for by both the Liberals and Democrats, the two parties that used to form the electoral pact.

• Evenimentul Zilei informs that the Parliament has approved 11 out of 13 names for the Board of the Romanian National Public Television. The paper argues that the vote confirmed the politicized web in which the Public Television is wrapped in.

• Cotidianul reports that the two arch-enemies of Romanian politics today, PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu and President Traian Basescu will take separate flights to Brussels, where they’ll attend the European Council that ends the German Presidency of the EU.