What the newspapers say: January 28, 2009

All newspapers on Wednesday read President’s recent declarations that made him, not the government, the one to announce that promised salary increases will freeze for six months. Elsewhere in the news, specialized publications in England announce a diamond shaped skyscraper plan for Bucharest.

Gandul reads about the imminent war between PSD leader Mircea Geoana with President Basescu, fueled by the announcement of the latter that salary increases will freeze. President Basescu announced on Tuesday that the government will freeze any salary increases in the next six months.

PSD leader Mircea Geoana, whose party belongs to the governing coalition, declared for the newspaper that his party would not support such measures and that they would urge the government to increase the salaries immediately. Nonetheless, the two got a chance to confront their public stands in a meeting on Tuesday night.

One thing is for sure though – that Romania’s economic status is depreciating fast and authorities are considering a loan of 6-7 billion euro in order to cover immediate needs. In this vein, Cotidianul reads, that the President announced that Romania would use the same financial package Hungary took from the IMF to finance its deficit but it would not take money from the institution.

Basescu declared that the best solution for Romania would be to take up money from the European Union and sign a monitoring agreement with the IMF that would ensure that contractual obligations are complied with.

Moreover, Basescu declared that he has already discussed with EU leaders this possibility and EC spokesperson Mark Gray confirmed his declaration. Gray did not wish to comment Basescu’s declarations but added that a part of the money would come from the Union and a part from the IMF as happened in the case of Hungary.

If the government decides to freeze salary increases, the state’s budget will save 875 million euro for six months.

Elsewhere in the news, Romania Libera reads about the existence of a diamond – shaped skyscraper plan for Bucharest, designed by the world famous Zaha Hadid. The construction will be be 200-meter high and will take the shape of a diamond.

However, local authorities have no idea about the gigantic project. The British specialized newspapers read that the architecture company Zaha Hadid Architects projected a 200 meters skyscraper for Bucharest, called Dorobanti Tower. According to the company, the construction will have 100,000 square meters and will host a 5 star hotel, a casino, luxury apartments, a commercial area and a business meeting place.

Apparently, the skyscraper would be build on Mihai Eminescu street, nearby Dorobanti, downtown Bucharest. Hadid reads in his blog that the beneficiary of the project is the Romanian company Smartown Investments, a private investor that will start project in 2009.

Contacted by the newspaper, Smartown Investments refused to offer any details about the project. Local authorities have no idea about the existence of the project and declared that there were no official papers submitted for construction authorizations.