National Press Review, 17August

Two million Romanian citizens receive state aid illegally, the city halls haven’t begun to apply sanctions to those who haven’t got a mandatory home insurance policy yet and the last weekend at the seaside has been the most profitable one for commercial agents so far – these are just some of the subjects you can read about in the dailies today.

Six children died in the tragedy which took place a year ago at the Giuleşti maternity hospital, none of those responsible for it have been punished yet – the Jurnalul Naţional reads in today’s issue.

As a result of the investigation conducted by the prosecutors of the High Court Prosecutor's Office, five persons were brought to trial.

The case was brought to court in December 2010, and the first court hearing, on January 10th, ended with a postponement. The next court hearing is to be held on August 29th.
Meanwhile, the Neonatology ward was completely refurbished.

The Bucharest City Hall, who manages the hospital, bought incubators, beds and new equipment.

The Evenimentul Zilei reads that out of the 8 million citizens receiving state aid, two million receive it illegally, according to Sebastian Lăzăroiu, head of the Ministry of Labour.

Some received state aid for ‘family support’ although they had new tools and tractors, worked abroad and owned numerous patches of land.

Others were granted state aid for heating by the City Halls, without having presented any documents to prove their income level or without ever having been on the list of social investigations.

All these irregularities were found by the social inspectors in many Romanian districts.
The cost of state aid amounts to RON 14 billion a year for the Government, with about 15% being illegally drained out of the system.

Also in Evenimentul Zilei we read that no fines for uninsured homes have been given yet.
The deadline for getting a home insurance policy, be it mandatory or not, was August 5th; nevertheless, just 35% of building owners currently have their homes insured against earthquakes, landslides and floods. The rest are risking a fine ranging from RON 100 to 500.

City Halls haven’t been quick on fining those who haven’t got a home insurance because their database is still incomplete, given that only 60% of a total of 3,500 have provided the required data for the computerized central system.

Adevărul reads that the Gross Domestic Product grew by just 0.2% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter, although the Government, in its negotiations with the IMF, was expecting a growth of at least 0.3 – 0.4%.

According to the experts interviewed by the Adevărul, the evolution during the second quarter can be explained through a very good performance in agriculture, which might continue.

The same daily reads that the ‘foxes’ in the public sector buy houses at the price of tents.
The Court House in Galaţi ruled that 37 company houses pertaining to the District Council have to be sold mandatorily to their tenants at their inventory cost.

A two-room apartment can be sold even at an inventory price of RON 152, which is almost one thousand times lower than its market value.

The dispute over the houses of the District Council in Galaţi began in 2007, when the tenants started filing requests, one by one, for buying the apartments.

Since the Council refused, claiming that, according to the law, the houses couldn’t be sold, the tenants took it to court, who ruled in their favour.

Adevărul also reads that there were about 300,000 tourists swarming at the seaside this weekend – a record number for this year.

The commercial agents in all the resorts made record revenues.

Those who went to the seaside last weekend spent no less than EUR 30 million on lodging, meals and entertainment.

The most wanted resort was Mamaia, where the cost for two-bedroom accommodation is between RON 200 and 400 a night, twice more than in the southern resorts.

Translated by: Ruxandra Câmpeanu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University