What the newspapers say: June 6, 1008

Between echoes of the local elections, the European football championship about to start and the bicycle ride of Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu on the Environment Day, there is little space left in the newspapers on Friday for significant news. Still, a good eye may find that Romania trades slaves, that the Spanish believe Romanians are poor thieves, and that some of all this may happen because university degrees – owned by people who may „wash up” Romania’s image – are not recognized in some EU countries.

Romania is a slave provider for the Western countries, an US State Department study indicates. Out of 170 analyzed countries, the report puts up three groups, according to their position towards human trafficking. 17 countries are not included in any of the groups, due to the lack of clear information.

Romania is positioned in the second group – along with Bulgaria, Portugal, Israel, Afghanistan, Belarus and Serbia – being source, transit and destination country in human trafficking for sexual slavery and forced labor. Romanians are exploited in Western Europe, Turkey and Israel, the report shows, according to Evenimentul Zilei.

Meanwhile, the 75% of the Spanish populace believe that Spain hosts too many immigrants, and most support their expelling. 60% see the increasing unemployment rates as a result of the immigration, a Government-demanded study on Romania’s image in Spain reveals. The first association made by the Spanish when it comes to Romanians is poverty and misery (21%), followed by delinquency (9%), gypsies (5%) and the fact that Romania is a country with economic problems, same Evenimentul Zilei informs.

Luckily, the European Commission does more for Romania than the Government: Italy and Poland were brought to the EC Court of Justice for not recognizing the university degrees issued in Romania, Gandul reads. The EC orders in the matter have yet to be adopted by Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Spain.

Meanwhile, back home, two pieces of news describe life as it is: pink and black. First, the public TV station general manager, Alexandru Sassu, suddenly decided to reorganize the institution, so that he would get rid more easily of his opponents, Cotidianul informs, blowing the whistle on what could become a new freedom of speech scandal. Second, the economy gas a healthy growth, the National Statistics Institute informs, even the „slow kid in class” – the agriculture – reaching an 8.2% growth. The industry grew 5.4% in the first quarter, compared to last year’s Q1, while services grew 7.5%.