Financial Press Review, November 23

Under the heading "Asphalting on the money paid by the next government: the Government mandated the Ministry of Development to bituminize 10,000 km of county and local roads", the Ziarul Financiar wrote that the Executive did not specify how much would the operation cost, but that it is included in a national infrastructure development program that also includes at least 800 outstanding projects in the rural areas.

"Unlike other infrastructure works, the funding of these programs will initially be made by the constructors and later in 2012 the next governments are to pay the amount of works as they are being finished"(…)"This would be the first programe that the States undertakes to pay the work suppliers after two years."

"It is unclear who will bear the interest in financing these works and how much will this be," writes the Ziarul Financiar.

The same newspaper informs us that after a 28 percent last year, "the building materials market will fall by 15 percent this year and would record a decrease of 1.5 to 2.5 percent on the next year", given that this sector mainly damages the domestic market.

"In the absence of the supplies for the reconstruction projects following the floods in Moldavia, the market would have declined even more," reveals the Ziarul Financiar.

The Economistul newspaper wrote on the same topic that professionals have raised again the issue of the tasks notebooks "with dedication" at the public auctions, even offering a concrete example, for which they stated that "the required documentation has already been sent to the Ministry of Development."

It is about the tasks notebook of an auction organized by the Buşteni City Hall for the thermal rehabilitation of some blocks, the newspaper reveals.

Under the heading “The companies are beyond flat” the Curierul Naţional wrote that “the government has decided to abandon the flat tax introduction because of the difficulties that might arise in the administration of such a system and it’s considering a return to the 3 percent tax of the micro enterprises revenues.

” The same newspaper wrote in an article entitled How will the labor laws change?" that "the current system for calculating the unemployment benefit does not encourage the reintegration of the unemployed into the labor market."

The Labor Ministry wants to encourage the unemployed to work.

"The additional letter of intent convened with the IMF after the mission in October – November revealed that the Government signed on that the unemployment benefit would no longer be linked to the minimum wage, which is to be increased," said the Cotidianul.

The Ziarul Financiar published the conclusion of a debate held on Monday under the heading "The health system’s radiography".

"The event has generated heated discussions both among the speakers and participants from the audience regarding the future development strategy of the capital system versus the public one, but they all have agreed that only competition could cure the health system."

"Only the competition between doctors, clinics, hospitals and even insurance companies will bring quality in the Romanian health care system," wrote the newspaper.

Under the heading "Trials proliferate, while courts are abolished", the Bursa newspaper wrote: "In 2009 in the courts from Romania there were 2m ongoing trials, and the statistics showed an increase in their number by over 30 percent in the year 2010."

"We have overcrowded courts in which the outcome of a trials takes years, however many of the country’s courts and prosecutors are to be abolished for economic reasons, because they do not have sufficient activity."

"For the individual, to reduce the number of courts would mean more nerves, more money and another waste of time," concluded the Bursa.

On the Economists day, the newspaper Economistul published the resolution of the General Association of Economists and the Asocitation of Faculties of Economics on the economic and social state of Romania."

The document expresses "the deep concern regarding the deterioration of the economic and social situation in 2009-2010."

"The failure to adopt economic recovery solutions causes the increased risk of a prolonged crisis, with serious effects on the individuals and business environment. (…) To give up the professionalism requirement in favor of the political obedience or of the nepotism and dilettantism is recognized as a very harmful practice," the resolution states.

The document calls for "a real consistent effective and permanent dialog with the economic actors" for "free constructive debates" and "a convergent clearly targeted and civilized dialogue".

Translated by Iulia Florescu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University