National Press Review, February 7

The tragedy in the Uricani mine and the establishment of the Social-Liberal Alliance are the main topics in today"s newspapers.

"Death and miners change shifts from time to time" – the Evenimentul Zilei headlines.

Five miners died Saturday in an accident in Uricani. Underground, miners work with death on the side, but the locals are condemned to go into the mine, as there are no other economic alternatives in the area.

România Liberă: "The grave-mines in the Jiului Valley".

The accident in Uricani is third in severity, from 2006 onwards. The Gândul goes further back in time to December 1989 and writes that 50 serious mining accidents have occurred in Romania ever since.

Dozens of miners die and get injured every year in the underground – the Adevărul also notes under the title "The dark history of the mines in the Jiului Valley".

Political issues are debated upon in today's newspapers, which approach the establishment of the Social Liberal Union PSD-PNL-PC.

"The unity of the opposition, the antidote of Traian Basescu's regime" – the Jurnalul Naţional headlines.

An alliance which gives the chills to Cotroceni and the Victoria Palace – the newspaper argues.

The România Liberă inquires: "The Social-Liberal Union or the Anti-Basescu Alliance? Which of the two has been born?"

"The Social Democratic Party and the National Liberal Party signed the birth certificate of the anti-Basescu Alliance" – the Gândul answers.

As for what follows, the Adevărul notes that the heads of organizations of the two parties have one month to sign the protocol at the local level.

In Bucharest, PSD and PNL leaders have already divided counties and cities for the local elections, under the protocol – the Adevărul also adds; the România Liberă states that Victor Ponta and Crin Antonescu have done this even without giving any explanations of how they will deal together with the hot topics, such as the flat interest and doctrinal differences.

We also have in today's newspapers echoes to the operation in the Siret customs last weeks.

The cigarette smuggling organizations are now attempting to fight back after dozens of customs officers and policemen in Siret have been detained - the România Liberă reads.

Some of these organizations are lowering their prices to get rid of the stock quicker, some others are looking for new ways of getting cigarettes over the border.

And for the final we kept the file opening today in the Adevărul; the newspaper will write all week long on how the communist industry ended up as... old junk.

Failed privatizations, the lack of interest and Real Estate cannons led to the disappearance of the big Romanian plants – the Adevărul accuses.

Real cases in today's issue: the Republica Plant in Bucharest (manufacturer of a wide range of products, from rock drill pipes to syringe needles), the CUG Plant in Iaşi (which was Romania's tank factory), the ARO Plants in Campulung and Tractorul Brasov.

The Adevărul also found an ironic, bitter rime for what happened with these factories: "yesterday – factories and plants, today – villas and ruins"...

Translated by: Manuela Stancu

MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University