National Press Review, 28 February

The Gândul tells us who 'cuts the forests in Romania'. Half a billion euros are pending reforestation projects. The funds are not used because the beneficiaries won't stop stealing. I quote from the article: 'In În Harghita, Covasna, Neamţ, Bacău and many other counties, thousands of hectares of forest have been cut in the last few years.

Nobody knows exactly how many, because they are unmanaged. It's been 25 years since the last census of forests. A bad legislation, conceived by incompetent or uninterested politicians led to huge areas of forest remaining unmanaged. Behind business with wood there are politicians. So far nobody has been punished, or even caught.'

'Reducing the VAT won't be possible in the next 3-4 years because it is an essential source for the state's treasury' – the Minister of Finance, Gheorghe Ialomiţianu, stated in an interview for the EVvenimentul Zilei. He also announced that the rich in 'Top 300' are the first targets for the control of assets. They will be the first ones that NAFA will verify.

The Adevărul publishes, on the front page, a map of Romanian life expectancy, by county, according to the data provided by the National Institute of Statistics. The national average is 73 years old, compared to 82 – the average for most Western Europeans. On a county basis, the highest average life expectancy is found in Bucharest and Valcea, two years longer than the national average.

Even though they are the most stressed out and live in the most polluted environment, people have in Bucharest the best medical care services and. In addition, they are better educated and increasingly concerned with their physical shape.

On Romania's map, there are two almost compact regions where life expectancy exceeds the national average: the central area (the counties of Sibiu, Braşov, Alba, Covasna, Harghita and Mureş) and Moldova, even though it comes second in the top poorest regions in the European Union.

The lowest life expectancy is found in the west, and the men in the villages of the Satu Mare county have a lifespan that's eight years shorter than the national average. The specialists' explanation: their traditional dishes are even more dangerous than fast food: pork fat, fried foods, smoked meats, spices in excess.

'The food was tasty, but I was moderate' – I quoted the title on the front page of the România Liberă, which is the statement of a former trade union leader. The former president of the largest rail road union in Romania easily admits he has earned a lot of money since he's leading the Romanian Rail Roads Company, mostly because of the 'damn fee'. In an unprecedented confession for the newspaper, Ion Molea states he closed his eyes at the looting of the rail roads to be able to obtain raises for employees.

'Bercea – an illiterate with a drivers license' – JURNALUL NAŢIONAL, and the GÂNDUL asks, in turn: 'How many Bercea Worldwide are there on the roads, driving at will with an illegal drivers license?

'When the judges in the Court of last instance in Craiova handed him the statement, Sandu Anghel took the two sheets of paper and looked at them in amazement... Bercea Worldwide can't read or write, but he owns a drivers license. His case is not singular. The roads are full of drivers who have illegally obtained their license.

After the scandal in Piteşti, the investigators have determined that 3,500 drivers licenses have been illegally granted by the Police in the Argeş county.

One only was annulled in court. 28 fatalities have been committed by drivers in the file 'the mop of drivers licenses' – claims the Argeş Police Department. Many Romanians purchased illegal drivers licenses not only here, but also in Hungary , using a translator, whom they paid to send them the right answers as well.

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