What the newspapers say: December 5, 2007

The first registration tax for vehicles continues to make the headlines, especially since official statements are contradictory enough to make the news impossible to understand. In some papers, the tax decreases significantly, in others – it will not change, nor will the money be refunded.

Also old news in the headlines – Romanian Roma ethnic Romulus Mailat, accused of killing Giovanna Reggiani in the scandal with the most impact on immigrants this year, brings more and more arguments that seem to exonerate him from the murder charges.

„Vosganian changes the car tax”, Gandul reads, quoting the very Economy Minister, Varujan Vosganian, who met the European Tax Commissioner, Laszlo Kovacs. According to the minister, the tax will decrease significantly. Vosganian makes one step back after the European Commission opened the second infringement stage against Romania for this tax, the State being one step away from being brought in the European Court of Justice. Still, Vosganian says that the money already collected will know its future only after an official EC decision.

In case that seemed clear, prime minister Tariceanu also made some statements about the car tax on Tuesday, while Vosganian was meeting Kovacs: „The tax will not be dropped, nor reduced, it will only suffer technical changes in case Brussels demands it”, said Tariceanu, quoted by Cotidianul.

In what some may call to be the scandal of the century, at least for the Romanian immigrants in Italy, main suspect Romulus Mailat made a surprise move and declared that he only stole the purse of Giovanna Reggiani, pointing at the testimony of an accomplice, Gheorghe Neamtu. In a video recording made on the evening Giovanna was killed, the two appear indeed together. Neamtu, who serves a three-years sentence in Romania, admits that he was with Mailat that night and is sure that Mailat didn’t kill her although, he says, he suffers from serious psychological problems. Neamtu is the son of the woman who called the Police, claiming she saw Mailat dumping Giovanna’s body in a ditch, Gandul informs.

Back home, the usual scandals continue: the Bechtel highway will cost 5 billion euro instead of 2 billion. The price thus becomes 13 million euro per kilometer, double than the current price for similar highways under construction in Poland, Cotidianul found out.

Moving even further towards East, the Romanian embassy in Kishinev has once again problems with Moldova president Vladimir Voronin. The head of state released a press note on Tuesday, accusing the Romanian embassy of spreading biased and misleading information, the president pointing at a press release called „Presidential TV station NIT organizes provocations”. The Romanian embassy made indeed a comment about a TV station which „made a series of speculative, ostentatious and provocative inquiries”, yet it never named the station „presidential”, Romania Libera reads.

Whatever Voronin wants to do, it seems to work. A local public opinion institute found that the number of „Romanian-skeptical” Moldovans grew 30% during the past year, while the number of pro-Russia Moldovans doubled, same Romania Libera informs.