What the newspapers say: March 11, 2009

Romania negotiates a 19 billion euro loan from the IMF, but what are the real costs incurred by the country, one newspaper questions on Wednesday. Elsewhere in the news, the crisis pressures more and more young people to move to the country side. Last but definitely not least, Romania’s judicial system, attacked by a virus.

Cotidianul questions the costs incurred if Romania will take up a 19 billion euro loan from the IMF. Negotiations will start today, as the IMF delegation is expected to arrive in Romania. Romanian authorities officially announced negotiations with the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund, Romanian Finance ministry informs.

According to official sources, quoted by Romanian news agency Mediafax, the evaluations conducted by the both the Government and the National Bank reveal a need of some 19 billion euro, but the final sum will be announced after negotiations end.

Romanian officials plan to take some 12 billion euro from the IMF and 7 billion euro from the European Commission, quoted sources reveal. The total sum is close to the initial estimations put forward by economic experts.

Governmental sources declared that negotiations with the European Commission will last about two weeks and those with the IMF, ten days. Romania needs foreign financial assistance to cover a financing gap, estimated at 25.6 billion euro for 2009.

According to IMF estimations, Romania’s economic growth will be negative this year, while Bucharest authorities had a forecast pf 1.5 and 2.5% increase. Plus, the IMF declared that Bucharest authorities were too optimistic in outlining the level of the budgetary revenues or the budgetary deficit.

IMF representatives will request important cuts in budget spending or tax increases. However politicians might prove reluctant to tackle these measures in an electoral year.

The economic crisis pushes people to move to the countryside, Evenimentul Zilei reads. More and more Romanians plan to move to the countryside and open up a small family business by taking up European Union funds.

Sociologists call the phenomenon the „return to the survival economy” and consider that some of the main consequences are high unemployment rates or salary decreases, Romania’s Life Quality Research Institute director Catalin Zamfir said.

The newspaper offers some examples of Romanians who moved at the countryside and opened up some businesses and decided to apply for some EU funds: one Romanian plans to grow flowers, nearby Bucharest while another one to set up a vineyard based on Italian principles.

Romania libera reads that Romania’s penitentiary and police IT systems were attacked by the so called Conficker Downadup virus, as they failed to update their systems even though Microsoft transmitted all updates as early as October 2008, Microsoft Romania spokesperson Paula Apreotesei declared.

Officials admitted that some problems were also identified in the Bucharest Appellate Court, Bucharest Court, Bucharest Police, Romania’s General Police Headquarters and some penitentiaries.

According to IT experts, the virus floods computers, decreases traffic and, if it manages to track passwords, it enters into systems and then it can copy, send, modify or delete data. Nobody can track the attacker nor where the information could end up. In order to delete the virus, the whole system needs to be reconfigured.