National Press Review, 9 September

"What will happen to private universities after new classification?" and "Who is to blame for the National Stadium turf?". These are the questions of the day in the newspapers of Bucharest.

"Downgraded universities are losing students and money." The Evenimentul Zilei writes that the new hierarchy crowned with glory 12 education institutions, while others were covered in shame. They will lose their credibility, but they can recover through effective strategies.

The România Liberă comments that, after two strokes received in a single year, bankruptcy is now the fear of the private universities’ rectors. The two strokes were the catastrophic baccalaureate results and the laggard positions occupied in the new classification of higher education institutions. Rectors of private universities, the România Liberă continues, need to rethink the strategy that worked perfectly during the quiet times.

"In 15 years we will run out of oil and gas", the Jurnalul Naţional warns. We do not even have enough uranium supply for the two nuclear reactors, although we have four. We are doing well in the coal category, as we have enough lignite for the next 45 years and black coal for the next hundred years.. This is the portrait-robot of Romanian resources, which is detailed in today’s issue of the Jurnalul Naţional.

As the summer season is over, hotel managers and tourism employers make their balance sheets. "We had more tourists, but poorer", the Adevărul writes. In fact, there were 10 percent more tourists than last year at the seaside, but they spent 10 percent less. Overall, the people working in tourism on the Black Sea also came out with profit and promised that next year they will not change prices, the Adevărul adds.

The National Stadium turf has remained a hot topic in Bucharest press: the Evenimentul Zilei "fires" at the mayour, the Adevărul targets the federation. The Evenimentul Zilei headlines in the opening edition,: "Oprescu-turf brings chaos to Romanian football" and investigates, in addition to turf’s state, what the newspaper has called the mayor’s failures on the National Arena. Among them: the construction price has doubled, the stadium does not have enough hydrants and the stairs at the second level are too narrow.

The Adevărul: the one that destroyed the turf at the Romania-France match, Adrian Oprisan, is a guy favoured by the federation. His company was in charge of the game area in Buftea and Mogoşoaia; he was also responsible for the sand of the Romania-Denmark 2-5, of 2003, another silly game...

Overall, the România Liberă summarises the situation in one sentence: a negligent mayor, a shady businessman and a skimpy builder ruined the turf of the National Arena.

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