National Press Review, february 13

Evenimentul Zilei demands resignation of the prefect of Vrancea due to political babble that created chaos in the county. Blizzard stopped on Tuesday, according to NIHMW ( National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management) but in Vrancea county has not entered into force until Friday.

Because prefect Sorin Hornea has not set up state of alert and equipments in counties around doing nothing. No one asked for the. Meanwhile, people were dying and the prefect argued with County Council president , whether or not to seek help from the center.

"Too small for so much snow," says Adevărul. Snow removals contracts signed by the county councils Vrancea and Buzău with “ friend” companies for exorbitant fees and delayed intervention turned against thousands of people buried in drifts - a sign of indolence, considers Adevărul.

"Tens of thousands of people in over 80 cities, separated from the world", we can read in România Liberă. Even though in some villages, people and the authorities finally managed to get around, there will be big problems the following days, because it will snow again abundantly and will be blizzard. A long-term solution are forestry curtains , which halve snow removal problems, say mayors.

Jurnalul Național a report of drifts: " White Hell from Cârligu Mic ", county Buzău. You get there through a frozen tunnel . Of white mountains spring peaks of high voltage towers. Rock hard snow exceeds 3-4 times a tall man. What else the journalists saw there: while volunteers arrived with snow removal equipments , few people were gallery, and some looked impassive, with a cigarette between their fingers at those who toil in the snow across the street to remove the house of an old woman.

On the front page România Liberă : "25% of local councilors have contracts with their companies," said Secretary General of the National Integrity Agency, Horia Georgescu, in an interview. He confesses that NIA is always a subject to political pressure: officials giving phones and even threatens its officials. Attempts from parliamentarians to take them out of the picture were, are and will be -is convinced the head of the NIA.

Curierul Național says that "health debts dazzling increase ". The state has to pay 4.5 billion lei pharmaceutical companies for drugs that have already reached the population. Payment period is exceeded by three months . This amount plus other debts of 500-800 million lei, are still not confirmed.

Ziarul Financiar makes "macro picture that Ungureanu Government has been his office ". Conditions are extremely harsh: bad weather and the recession in the euro area. Keywords of the first speeches of the new ministers were European funds, transparency and reduce bureaucracy. In the newspaper we read which are individual targets of ministries. It remains to be seen if even one of them will be accomplished.

Good news for Bucharest in Evenimentul zilei : authorities have a project regarding t he heat bill separation for each dwelling. This is to avoid situations in which residents of a block are in the cold all because of a slow payer.

Translated by

Denisse-Meda Bucura

MTTLC, Bucharest University.