What the newspapers say: November 14, 2007
It’s all about the money, one way or the other, in most of the headlines. Some echoes of the incidents involving Romanians in Italy are still heard, but things seem to return to domestic problems: the imports of cheap labor force, the minimum wage, the frauds involving European funds – all have returned slowly, but surely, to the front pages of newspapers.
Romanians in Spain want to quit speaking „Romagnol”, Evenimentul Zilei reads. About 1,000 Romanian children of all ages study in Spanish schools, learning to speak „Romagnol”, a language combining Romanian and Spanish.
Speaking of Romanians abroad, Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu has lost it’s last support – the members of his own party. The head of the Liberal group in the Parliament, Puiu Hasotti, saw his party colleagues pressuring him to demand PM Tariceanu to expel Cioroianu from the Government, Evenimentul Zilei reads.
„He’s not a racist, nor a xenophobic person, but he made one too many mistakes”, Hasotti says. Cioroianu sparked another scandal when he declared recently that he was „thinking about buying a piece of the Egyptian desert, to turn it into a camp for Romanian criminals”.
„Yellow code for Italy”, Romania Libera reads: the Foreign Ministry put Italy on the list of countries that present a risk for Romanians.
„In Bulgaria, fake policemen may stop you and ask you for money. In Mexico there are hurricanes. In Costa Rica, they ask you to get a vaccine against yellow fever. In Italy you can be expelled for being Romanian, this is the message the Foreign Ministry sends”, Romania Libera comments.
Romanians in Italy, divided into „good Romanians and gypsies”, Evenimentul Zilei reads. The articles shows that the growing tensions between Romanians and Italians are peaking, mainly when it comes to the Italian far-right supporters.
Two improvised gypsy camps were burnt down on Monday. Police say they don’t have any evidence that the incidents were related in any way to xenophobic groups.
The import of Chinese workers has no longer any legal restrictions, Gandul informs. Until now, foreign workers were supposed to earn at least the average wage at the national level. The rule was erased by a recent Government ordinance and now they may be paid with the minimum salary.
Unhappy labor unions challenge the ordinance, while the ministers claim they have no idea how this happened. Asked by the journalists at Gandul how this was possible, the Labor Minister investigated „the case” and finally answered that the ordinance was issued through the Interior Ministry.
Meanwhile, labor unions prepare for a general strike, after the Government denied their demand for a minimum 540 RON salary (1 euro = 3.34 RON). The last offer of the government was 500 RON, but it was rejected by the unions on Tuesday, same Gandul reads.
Of course, the poverty makes people steal. Jurnalul National found one year ago that a road built with European funds is practically inexistent. The European Commission demanded the return of the SAPARD funds used in the project, about one million euro, but authorities investigating the affair only found a 13,000 euro problem up to this moment.
The mayor who led the fraud claims he is a political victim of the anti-graft prosecutors.