What the newspapers say: January 6, 2009

All newspapers on Tuesday have as main headline the alleged suicide of Mircea Stanescu, son of one of Romania’s most prominent journalists, Sorin Rosca Stanescu. The first clues suggest that Mircea Stanescu shot himself yesterday, in his apartment, where he was found by his lawyer. However, even more headlines refer to the wealth of the new members of the Government, since Monday was the day when they submitted their official wealth statements.

In the case of Mircea Stanescu’s death, several newspapers only note that he was found shot in his apartment, while others suggest it was a suicide. The main contextual information around his death is that Mircea Stanescu was under criminal pursuit for a car accident in which he killed a man a while back. Hotnews.ro also publishes a history of Mircea Stanescu’s political background, including his transfers from one party to another so that he could remain close to the political power, regardless the color.

Bucharest is once again in the top headlines, with the latest statistics: some 3 million people have to share the city infrastructure, and the number may soon reach 4 millions. The streets that now host 1.3 million vehicles are the same as those designed for 250,000 cars before 1989, Evenimentul Zilei reads.

In the hellish traffic, the Police is always busy: 29,000 drivers were fined and left without a drivers license in 2008, while 3,600 drivers saw criminal files opened against them, the same newspaper notes.

Meanwhile, the accelerated infrastructure development program announced by the new Government begins with a postponing: the submission of offers for the construction of the Comarnic – Brasov segment of the Transylvania highway saw its deadline moved on February 2, because competing companies accuse each other of various problems, Gandul reads.

Speaking of cars: the national car producer, Renault-owned Dacia, saw its sales in France increasing significantly, despite the market’s 0.6% decrease, Gandul informs. Dacia currently holds the 13th place in sales, with a 1.7% market quota.

Back in Romania, economic news aren’t all that great. The devaluation of the national currency, RON, will make the life more expensive, analysts say, even though the higher inflation level may help the economy by decreasing the huge current account deficit. The RON officially fell to 4.02 units per Euro, an exchange rate unprecedented since November 2004.

At the same time, Romanians working abroad send les and less money back home. The number of transfer operations decreased 10-15% during the last two months in 2008. The amount transferred dropped from 30 to 24 million Euros in a month, Cotidianul reads.

Of course, politicians are busy with other stuff. Or even with „other staff”, some might say: Cotidianul publishes three articles about the small wars to gain a „piece of the bone” within the governing parties. While Democrat Liberals have troubles deciding who should get some public offices and who shouldn’t, Social Democrats are far more organized: the PSD Youth even put up a list of offices they demand, from presidents in state agencies to county governors. At the same time, the „heavy artillery” of party elders demands for the county governor seats to be offered on political grounds, the newspaper reads.