What the newspapers say: January 31, 2008

German automobile producer Daimler plans to invest in a production factory in Romania, one newspaper reads on Thursday. Elsewhere in the news, European Nokia unions met in Brussels on Wednesday to outline a common stand against the company. Also in the news today, EC commissioner Joaquin Almunia urges the Romanian government to cut public spending.

Cotidianul reads about the negotiations German automobile producer Daimler started with the Romanian Government to set up a Mercedes-Benz production factory in our country. The newspaper quotes sources from Cluj, Central Romania, saying that a possible location discussed is Cluj.

Quoting Reuters, the newspaper reads that another option taken into account is Poland and no final decision has been yet taken. German weekly Automobilwoche read on Tuesday that Germans plan to open the factory by 2011.

A total value of the investment is estimated at some 400 million euro. Sources said that Daimler negotiates through consultancy firms and lately, several other companies have approached officials from Cluj.

Local authorities in Cluj are overwhelmed by investment requests and City Hall plans include the extension of the industrial park in Jucu, where Nokia is located, by another 170 hectares.

Elsewhere in the news, Romania libera reads that European Nokia union members met in Brussels on Wednesday to outline a common approach towards the company after its decision to relocate a production facility from Bochum, Germany to Romania. At the meeting, German union members found out that their Finnish counterparts were informed by Nokia’s intention to relocate.

The meeting triggered harsh debates among union members as Germans left the meeting room, as a protest. If they initially hoped to set a common stand and organize protests in Europe as well, Germans representing Bochum workers found themselves alone after their Finnish, Dannish, English, Spanish Hungarian and Swiss counterparts refused to back them up.

Sources within the Commission argue that European officials cannot take a stand since no one seems to know whether the Commission is entitled to intervene. According to the European legislation, all member states are compelled to inform the Commission when they plan to invest more than 50 million euro in a project.

Moreover, during the union members meeting all delegations invoked the new era of globalization when capital cannot be controlled. Romanian representative Iles Valentin said that they would push for higher wages.

Last but not least, Romania Libera also reads about European Commissioner for Monetary Affairs, Joaquin Almunia urges the Government in Bucharest to cut budget spendings in order to avoid postponing the euro adoption.

The European Commission is ready to rule a series of measures unless the government manages to efficiently control its spendings, Almunia declared. In a Commission’s evaluation of a strategy for 2007-2010 that Romania tabled in Brussels in December, officials argue that some of the resources allocated for investments seem to be used for other spendings.

Almunia put forward some of the measures that need to be adopted by the government, namely a predictable fiscal policy that can cater for budget revenues that would cut the deficit.

Romanian PM Tariceanu declared that a meeting between Romanian National Bank representatives and government members would be organized to decide the measures needed to be adopted.