What the newspapers say: March 27, 2006

The failure of the „Orange Revolution” in Ukraine’s parliamentarian elections this weekend receives substantial coverage in Romanian newspapers on Monday.

Attempts of a revolution within the opposition PSD party in the Romanian parliament keep drawing many headlines, while the media prepares for an unprecedented confrontation – street violence not excluded – between Steaua and Rapid in the UEFA Cup quarterfinals.

Ukrainians elected a new Parliament on Sunday and their vote confirmed what polls have been consistently predicting – the victory of a pro-Russian group led by Viktor Yanukovich, the man who lost before Viktor Yushchenko in presidential elections two years ago.

And Yushchenko’s group managed only a third place according to exit polls – following the party led by ex-PM Yulia Timoshenko, dismissed a year ago due to an increasing number of corruption charges.

Romanian newspaper Cotidianul believes the Ukrainian elections prove how „the Kiev orange can easily turn into red”, which for Gandul means the Orange Revolution is one step away from total collapse.

At stake, writes Evenimentul Zilei, is the fate of 47 million people seriously affected by pandemic corruption, as foreign investors keep away for political turmoil to cool down, while the average Ukrainians is finding trouble coping with still higher prices, despite a consistent boost of salaries lately.

Pro-Moscow Yanukovich’s victory yesterday „is a humiliation for Yushchenko’s group”, according to Jurnalul National.

Back to Bucharest, newspapers focus on the failed revolution ex-PM, ex-House speaker Adrian Nastase planned within his own party earlier this month, after his dismissal from all relevant positions within the group and parliamentary structures.

Gandul writes that Nastase called ex-President Ion Iliescu – who now poses as the honorary leader of the opposition PSD party – on Friday morning to complain that his cronies have been hunted and ousted from the political group.

Nastase asked Iliescu to save his „party wing” in exchange for him not leaving the PSD, according to the newspaper.

Cotidianul, meanwhile, writes that the same Nastase was working on „PSD 2”, another social-democratic group to compete with the PSD. The newspaper also quotes two PSD deputies confirming that Nastase had asked them to leave with him and join the Conservative Party, a junior member of the governing coalition.

Returning to Gandul, the newspaper quotes a new poll by public opinion institute IMAS, according to which Adrian Nastase lost another percentage of voters’ trust last month, down to 15, considerably lower than PSD’s 23% of voter confidence.

That comes as the governing D.A. Alliance of Liberals and Democrats is supported by 50% of Romanians, according to the same poll.

But what matters most for today’s newspapers is the coming confrontation between Bucharest-based teams Steaua and Rapid in the UEFA Cup quarterfinals on March 30 and April 6.

Cotidianul publishes a series of features on the preparations for the two matches, focusing on how authorities get ready for a „clash of civilizations” that may lead to violence, due to the reputed enmity between the two clubs.

And it says a recent match in the Black Sea port of Constanta, where the fans of another Bucharest team, Dinamo, confronted a sea of gendarmes violently recently, proved where it may all come to in Romanian football.

According to Evenimentul Zilei, the events in Constanta prompted the Romanian Professional Football League to sanction Dinamo by banning its fans from the stadium for the coming two matches of a local competition – including a match against Steaua.