What the newspapers say: October 3, 2008

Friday begins with to important disaster news. All five Romanian teams participating in the UEFA Cup lost their chances to qualify from the groups and Romania is on the verge of collapse, because of the electoral gifts approved during the past few months.

All five Romanian teams playing in the UEFA Cup were eliminated from the competition on Thursday after proving unable to win any of the games, all newspapers note on Friday.

Just to fill up the football news, the Anti-graft prosecutors announced that 8 football moguls are ready to be sent to court for money laundering and other financial crimes, related to layers’ transfers. The Becali brothers (Ioan and Victor, both football players’ agents), Mihai Stoica, former manager at Otelul Galati, Jean Padureanu – president of the Gloria Bistrita football club; Gheorghe Popescu – former employee of „Becali sport”; Gheorghe Netoiu – former shareholder at Dinamo and Cristian Borcea – executive manager at Dinamo Bucharest are involved in a file about players’ transfers between 1999 and 2005, Gandul reads.

„The Government choked on electoral gifts” (Evenimentul Zilei), „The Government of electoral gifts weeps on a cliff’s edge” (Gandul) or „The electoral gifts strike back” (Cotidianul) are the headlines that describe Romania’s financial situation, after the public intervention of the Economy Minister, Varujan Vosganian, on Thursday.

After increasing the pensions and the teachers’ wages, all other budgetary personnel feels entitled to be treated in the same manner. 65,000 public servants threaten to go on strike next week, in case they do not receive the same kind of incentives, Evenimentul Zilei reads.

The Government caused a wage increase avalanche that can’t be controlled anymore. The Economy Minister attempts to block a law that was already voted by the Parliament and negotiate with an union that won’t give up an already obtained right, Gandul adds.

But it is Cotidianul that sums it all up: the electoral gifts may cause the increase of the budget deficit from 3 to 7%, jeopardize the EU accession treaty Romania signed, accelerate inflation, cause the country rating to drop and, in the end, may constitute a threat to the national security.

Not as a surprise, the European currency reached yesterday a new maximum, 3.8308 RON per Euro.