Financial Press Review, 11 July

The evolution of the economy, the usage of EU funds and medication prices are the main topics of today’s financial press.

The Ziarul Financiar deals with ‘May’s Surprise: Industrial Output Overgrew Expectations: up to 8%’.

This occurred after ‘it seemed a bit tired in March and April’.

The annual inflation reached 8.5 percent at the end of June, an article from the same daily reads. The same articles mentions that June should be the last month the inflation mounts.
Most financial analysts estimate that the annual inflation rate will reach 5.4 percent at the end of the year, the daily reads.

Below the headline ‘Major Changes for EU Fund Distribution’, the Ziarul Financiar reads that PM Emil Boc stated on Saturday that prefinancing, currently 30 percent of the project’s value, could fall to 15 percent, and agreements financed with European money could be terminated if six months after signing the work has not started.

The Curierul Naţional prints an article entitled ‘Boc, Confident that Payments through Operational Regional Programme Will Be Resumed’.

The payments, meant for improvement of regional and local infrastructure, were blocked in Romania after the European Commission discovered some irregularities.

In its report, the Brussels Commission mentions the shortcomings of the public procurement system used in giving out agreements, using discriminating selection criteria by the authorities, unjustified usage of the accelerated procedure and extra work considered similar work, a press release from the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism shows.

‘PM Boc told those involved in auctions that without transparent and fair specifications Romania risks EU funds, the Curierul Naţional reads.

Capital Magazine also addresses this topic below the headline ‘Why The European Milking Cow Is Leaving Us’.

‘Last month what specialists long anticipated finally happened: sick and tired of fraudulent management of EU funds, the European Commission blocked payments’. The article describes some of the most popular methods and several more subtle elusions’. ‘After blocking payments towards transportation infrastructure, the next sector is the environment’.

‘I feel certain that after 2012 there will be tons of suits on European funds’, the magazine quotes Mircea Vintilescu, president of the Association of Professionals in Environment Protection’.

The Bursa prints an article entitled ‘200 small and medium enterprises united in networks through a European project’.

The 4 million Euro program, which ‘promotes and develops a modern entrepreneurial culture and higher competitiveness among small and medium enterprises’ is financially supported by the EU.

Below the headline ‘Lower Medication Prices for the Chronically Ill to Have Boomerang Effect’, the Curierul Naţional reads that the measure announced by the Ministry of Health that many are enthusiastic about brings, in the long run, catastrophic effects for millions of Romanian patients: vital medication for the chronically ill will disappear from pharmacies and access to treatment for the other patients will be restricted’, the President of the National Association for Patient Protection Vasile Barbu said.

Among the illnesses that the measure mentions are diabetes, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, oncologic afflictions, haemophilia and others.

The Curierul Naţional opens with the headline ‘Inheritance of Romanian Industry Giants’.

‘The communist industry left us with 550 000 contaminated sites, who rehabilitation will require enormous investment and around 30 years.

Translated by: Gabriela Lungu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University