What the newspapers say: March 17, 2011

All newspapers on Thursday read about the failure of the motion of censure initiated by the opposition and the quarrels in the Parliament yesterday during the debate of the motion. Elsewhere in the news, gas prices under pressure as the government can no longer sustain the low prices. The state plans to sell some shares at the biggest oil company. Last but not least, Romanian alpinist Alex Gavan will attempt to conquer Kangchenjunga peak in Himalaya.

All newspapers on Thursday read about the failure of the motion of censure submitted by the opposition and the all day quarrels in the Parliament. Evenimentul Zilei reads that the motion fell by 212 votes for of the 236 votes needed to pass. Four votes were against and 2 cancelled.

Of the 470 Parliamentarians, only 218 voted. Five governing coalition parliamentarians voted for the motion even though the party instructed them not to vote.

The biggest quarrel was generated by the Opposition, who insisted to have a protest declaration against the speech of Hungarian PM Viktor Orban before the motion would even be voted. Social Democratic Party leader said that unless the Parliament decides to take an official stand on the issue, him and his colleagues will leave the room.

Evenimentul Zilei reads that authorities will no longer be able to control gas prices and a price increase on April 1st is imminent. The increase of natural gas prices for the population, starting April 1st is almost impossible to avoid, sources declared. The level of unrecovered debts by companies distributing gas is already very high and the pressure increased.

Plus, the approval of an increase would be sustained that as of April, gas consumption drops so the impact felt by consumers will not be so big. Social Democratic deputy Iulian Iancu declared yesterday that the two biggest operators on the regulated gs market, E.ON Romani and GDF SUEZ Energy Romania requested a 25% increase in gas prices in several stages.

According to the newspaper, starting April 1st, prices will increase by 5%.

The Romanian state plans to sell some of its shares at Petrom, the biggest oil company in Romania, Romania libera daily reads. Seven consortium submitted offers to be the middle man in the transaction estimated at 510 million euro. The newspaper reads that the second phase of the tender will be organized in two weeks time after the technical offers submitted will be reviewed. The state plans to sell 9.84% of the OMV Petrom shares of the shares it owns at the company of 20.63%.

Romania libera reads about the plans of Romanian alpinist Alex Gavan to conquer Kangchenjunga peak in Himalaya, the third in terms of altitude on the planet. Kangchenjunga is located at the border between Nepal and India has 8586 m and is considered one of the difficult mountains to reach.