National Press Review, 9 December

The Evenimentul Zilei writes "Crisis Summit. Europe is blown".

The journalists write about the decisions taken by the European Central Bank, concerning the reduction of the benchmark interest to 1 percent recode level in order to facilitate investments and stimulate consumption, and also recorded the positions of the European leaders attending the summit in Brussels.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned that Europe would not have another chance, if the summit ended without the adoption of clear measures. The Evenimentul Zilei writes that British Prime Minister David Cameron is watching how others take decisions. The Eurosceptics asked him to protect the London's interests from the European regulations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave assurances that "Europeans will find the right solutions", while the leaders of the Member States outside the euro area, among whom Traian Basescu, said that a union with two speeds was not an option.

"The decisions need to be taken for all the 27 Member States, not only for those in the euro area", the Romanian President stated before the summit in Brussels.

The Evenimentul Zilei and the România Liberă focus on the four scenarios for the euro area, anticipated by the PricewaterhouseCoopers experts.

The România Liberă writes that the most pessimistic views "involve controlled bankruptcy within the euro area, with three years of recession or the formation of a currency block of the solid states, with severe economic consequences in the excluded countries"/

The Adevărul writes about the differences of position between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Eurogroup chairman Jean Calude Junker and states: "The crisis cut their mood states in Eastern Europe to join the euro".

The journalists quoted a Wall Street Journal review "on the governments of Central and Eastern Europe, from Hungary to Bulgaria, who recently held out loud and clear that until they join the euro club, they will put those plans on hold".

Internal news: the România Liberă headlines on the front page "The road company of Romania moved to the Arctic Circle". "The annual snow removal of a kilometre of highway in Romania is more expensive than in Finland. The Scandinavian country pays an annual average 1 200-1 300 euros per kilometre, four times less than Romania."

The Adevărul writes "The Transformer file. Fenechiu, electrocuted by the DNA". The Liberal MP was called for hearings yesterday, being charged for wasting 2.5 million euros from the state budget between 2002-2004 in a deal with transformers.

The Evenimentul Zilei: "unionist Mariu Petcu, sentenced in just eight months". It took only this much for the Bucharest Tribunal to sentence the former head of the National Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Romania – Brotherhood, who has been accused of taking bribes, to seven years of prison. The decision is not final and may be appealed to the Court of Appeal.

Translated by: Iulia Florescu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University