What the newspapers say: August 13, 2010 

The government decided to cut a tenth of the budgets for Education and Justice to allocate 4.36 billion lei for pensions, unemployment aid to avoid social conflicts, one newspaper reads on Friday. Elsewhere in the news, Romania’s Tourism and Regional Development ministry plans to promote Romanian tourism on Facebook. Last but not least, one newspaper takes the time to discover the top restaurants at the seaside that 20 years ago attracted tens of thousands of foreigners each summer and reveal what they are today.

The government plans to cut a tenth of the Education and Justice budgets, allocating 4.36 billion lei for pensions and unemployment aids, Gandul reads on Friday. The Health ministry will also receive an extra 2.81 billion lei. The crisis budgets of several ministries will be modified considerably by the budgetary modification with percentage between 4 and 8.25%.

This is because the government cannot find other resources to pay pensions, unemployment aids and other social aids. Labour minister Mihai Seitan confirmed for the newspaper that he urged the Finance ministry the sum of 4.36 billion lei, which was allocated through the budgetary modification.

Therefore, the Justice ministry loses about 198 million lei and the Education ministry about 494,6 million lei. Tourism and Regional Development ministry loses less and she declared for the newspaper that the ministry will give up some projects concerning the water supply of villages, the rehabilitation of buildings.

Unlike other officials, Seitan confirmed the data and declared that all ministers were informed of this modification.

Romania libera reads about the restaurants at the seaside that were famous 20 years ago even among foreign tourists. The newspaper reads that there were tens of thousands of foreign tourists each summer but today, the restaurants do not mean anything, not even for those living there.

One famous restaurant, La calul balan, in Neptun was found closed and people around told the journalists that it has been closed for a couple of years. Nearby the restaurant, the journalists reads about the Murfatlar Winery, which thousands of tourists visited in the past.

It was build by the former Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu who wanted a place to invite his guests and be close by to his house in Neptun, one citizens reminds the newspaper. This place has been renovated in 2002 and the owners wanted to rehabilitate it rather than modernize it completely.

Back in the early 2000, the restaurant would host about 300 tourists a day but those days are long gone.

Another widely known restaurant was Nunta Zamfirei, in Eforie Nord, another seaside resort. Tables were booked years in advance by foreigners, mostly. Today, the restaurant opens only at night but there are no foreign tourists.

Last but not least, Evenimentul Zilei reads that Romania’s Tourism and Regional Development ministry Elena Udrea, plans to promote Romanian tourism on Facebook, the social network. Representatives of the ministry met with Mark Cowan, Facebook representative to develop a partnership that would contribute at the promotion of the Romanian tourism.

We discussed about a possible strategic partnership in marketing between the ministry and Facebook, a press release of the institution reads, quoted by the newspaper. If talks will be successful, it would be a first deal of this sort for Facebook as well.