What the newspapers say: April 22, 2009

The banking system in Romania is the weirdest in all Europe. Without any support from banks, some may hope that the state will make a change. Well, they would be wrong: the state already owes to some of its employees more than the wage to be paid this year.

The main powers of the world – the US, the EU and Russia – consolidate their position regarding Moldova. While Russia criticizes the protests in Chisinau, the European Union is concerned with the regional stability, and the US worry about the human rights, Evenimentul Zilei reads, adding that officials in Brussels also criticize Romania’s decisions to simplify the citizenship obtaining procedures for over one million Moldovans of Romanian origins.

In economy, Cotidianul finds that Romania has the weirdest banking system in Europe, built mostly against the clients’ interests. The fastest and highest interest rate growth was noted in Romania before the crisis was even installed. The banks accept deposits for no more than two years. The interest rates for loans were always the highest in the region, even when the economy was doing better than in the neighborhood. The fluctuating interest rate causes the most damage for the clients’ pockets in the entire area.

Under these circumstances, the state employees should feel a bit more protected than the others. Well, it’s not the case: the judges and the prosecutors in Romania have still to receive some of their wages from 2008. The amount is larger than the money they have to receive this year, Cotidianul reads.

The parliamentarians, one of the categories that doesn’t worry much about the wage, adopted extremely fast the laws for their pensions and salaries, but failed to adopt of vote for Governmental ordinances 12 years old, Romania Libera reads. Among the laws that grew old in the Parliament, one may find the Education financing, the destination for funds from privatization or the Lustration Law.