National Press Review, 23 February

Events abroad – more or less related to us – manage to take the headlines in today’s newspapers.

‘Romanians trapped in the Libyan hell’. The EVENIMENTUL ZILEI reads that the violent anti-government riots in Libya prevent the repatriation of Romanians working in the North African country. Many of them were caught up in the middle of the desert, far away from Tripoli – the capital – in regions controlled by the power or the opposition, without being able to leave the area, much less the country.

The JURNALUL NAŢIONAL as well opens today’s issue with an ‘outside’ topic: the earthquake that shook New Zealand and killed tens of people. The earthquake generated a discharge of energy – the newspaper notes – that will prevent similar disasters in Europe until 2022.

The idea appears also in the GÂNDUL, on the front page: ‘as long as the Asian plate is active, the European one stays inactive, so there is no danger for Romania’ – reassures us the Director of the National Institute of Earth Physics.

Regarding domestic news, today’s newspapers read about the review meeting at the Ministry of Administration and Interior, where President Traian Băsescu spoke about the corruption in the system and criticised the police tolerance towards organised crime. ‘Slaps in the head’ – the ADEVĂRUL headlines, ‘Traian Băsescu took stock of the black and white spots at the Ministry of Interior’ - reads the GÂNDUL, while the JURNALUL NAŢIONAL claims that the President only took revenge for what several police officers had said at a meeting, back in autumn, and the ROMÂNIA LIBERĂ publishes the analysis: ‘How to reform the Ministry of Interior and Finance.’

Today’s newspapers follow the evolution of the investigation in the ‘Albiţa file’. Among the evidence prosecutors are examining there are tasty video and audio recordings – the GÂNDUL reads.

Some customs officials had come to giving change to the bribes they took when they couldn’t equally divide it. ‘‘I am sick and tired of all the money’ – states, in a recording, another police officer in Albiţa; the remark makes the headline in the EVENIMENTUL ZILEI. Finally, ADEVĂRUL wonders that in the Vaslui customs only police officers and no customs officers were charged with bribery, although the GÂNDUL claims their villas in Huşi were built with salaries that don’t go over 2,000 ron per month.

We conclude with the ROMÂNIA LIBERĂ where we meet today some of the ‘last standing doctors’, as the newspaper states.

Four young doctors talk about the reasons which determined them to stay in Romania. Their reasons sound like science-fiction: passion, devotion to patients. A young woman doctor, who refused offers from UK, France and Sweden, states that changes happen only if each of us gives a hand.

Translated by: Manuela Stancu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University