What the newspapers say: April 9, 2008

Working or not working? This seems to be the question on Wednesday. A Romanian policeman was caught stealing clothes in Austria, Romanians in Spain fear they will be soon laid off, while Romanians back home would have some works to do, mainly in highway, but the state doesn’t pay its bills on time, so that they have nothing else to do than take a nap after another.

A Romanian Judicial Police officer and his wife were apprehended in Austria, after they were filmed stealing clothes in several stores in Austria. 35-years old Liviu Terec – Popa, and his wife Corina, were taken into custody by the local Police, Evenimentul Zilei reads. Without any further comments, this kind of news makes it clear how Police in Romania get paid.

Other Romanians abroad prefer to work than to get embarrassed. Still, Romanians working in Spain feel more and more unsecured, given the wave of unemployment that hits the country. Immigrants will be the first to lose their jobs, they say, pointing at people who were laid off after 10 of even 15 years of construction works, Gandul notes.

Back home, the Bechtel highway should have ready at least 45 kilometers this year. At this moment, on 10 kilometers, only one bulldozer and a few trucks were working. Most of the men preferred to take a nap, since the Government has no money to pay for the works, and the US-based company „works while stepping on the brakes”, Romania Libera found out.

But there also Romanians who gain well. Labor Minister Paul Pacuraru provided upgrade works for the 10-years old copy machines in the House of Deputies, through his company, gaining 161,000 dollars. Cotidianul calculates that the cost was enough to buy twice as many new copy machines.

Finally, the Democrats nominated their candidate to the Bucharest City Hall elections: Vasile Blaga, an old party member and a new Bucharest citizen: his Bucharest ID card was obtained less than a month ago, Cotidianul reads. In Gandul, one of the Social-Democrat possible candidates for the same seat, Sorin Oprescu, says that he will run independently in case the party doesn’t nominate him.