What the newspapers say: April 18, 2008

Romanian President Traian Basescu loses popularity figures, one newspaper reads on Friday. Also in politics today, Social Democrats tempt their own Senator Sorin Oprescu with high positions to convince him not to run for Bucharest Mayor on independent lists. More in the news, a 17 year old Romanian hacker terrorized the American eBay website for two years creating damages of over 2 million euro.

Evenimentul Zilei reads that Basescu lost its battle with the press as only 34% of the Romanians trust the Presidency as compared to 37% previously, a survey reveals. If elections would be held this Sunday, Democrat Liberals (PDL) would take 40% of the total cast votes.

They are followed by Social Democrats (PSD) with 28% of the votes while governing Liberals would only receive 12%. Some 24% of respondents did not decide whom to vote for while 10% are determined not to vote and 5.2% refused to answer this question.

The population’s interest for the upcoming June local elections is relatively low, the survey reveals that only 51.2% are interested to cast their ballots. However, City Halls enjoy sufficient trust among citizens, with 43% of the votes.

After President Traian Basescu attacked the press in March, citizen’s trust in mass media grew by 8% while trust in the President dropped by 3%. However, the Church remains the backbone of the Romanian society, enjoying 77% of the votes.

Also in the news, Social Democrats still hope to convince their party member Sorin Oprescu to withdraw his candidacy for Bucharest Mayor, Cotidianul reads. The newspaper informs that the PSD tempted Oprescu with high ranked functions, but with no avail.

PSD campaign head Miron Mitrea admitted in a public television debate that Oprescu causes great strategy problems to the party. However, he said that Oprescu will not be excluded from the party just because he refuses to withdraw.

Sources within the party quoted by the newspaper inform that Social Democrats tempted Oprescu with high functions in the state just to give up. Nevertheless, Oprescu refused any offers.

Last but not least, Gandul reads about a 17 year old Romanian hacker who terrorized the American website eBay and caused damages of over 2 million euro. Vlad Constantin Duiculescu was arrested yesterday after three years of investigations.

The American Secret Service collaborated with their Romanian counterparts to track down Duiculescu as he was causing more and more damages, as months passed. Finally, he was arrested as the court decided that the eBay website is in danger of a new attack.