National Press Review June 8

ROMÂNIA LIBERĂ writes: “Merkel is asking for political unity. How will Bucharest respond?” Yesterday, the German chancellor made the most categorical statements, supporting a more united Europe, a situation which may lead to more power for Brussels and less sovereignty for the member states. The Romanian government has a limited amount of time for taking a stand on the subject. The June 28 summit is going to be crucial for the future of the European Union, so the matter of who will represent us – the President or the Prime Minister – is essential. Our country cannot afford to lose the Union’s support, România Liberă believes.

“Why do so many of the people suffering from diseases have to pay for their own medicine?” ADEVĂRUL explains: the new taxes imposed on drug manufacturers, as well as the same old problems of the healthcare system are making treatments increasingly inaccessible. A growing number of manufacturers claim they may be forced to step down from the Romanian market because of the clawback tax, leaving Romanians without certain drug brands. The phenomenon is all the more so serious, since a great number of ill people do not even have the money to pay for compensated drugs, Adevărul adds.

EVENIMENTUL ZILEI also points to problems in the healthcare system: “Condemned to dying with the treatment on their nightstand”. Romanians suffering from leukaemia, who can be treated in our country, are in danger of losing essential time looking for money to find donors in the international stem cell databases. We have doctors, we also have the necessary equipment, but our cell stem database is not yet functional.

“To the voting polls, Romanians!”, we are urged by JURNALUL NAŢIONAL. In the pages of the newspaper, we read on how and where we will vote, and what the necessary papers are. Jurnalul reminds us that the Sunday local elections are bringing forward several new aspects: the voting will be made in a single round, and the cases in which votes are considered not valid have changed. More on the subject can be found in the newspaper.

ZIARUL FINANCIAR also appeals to our civic duty: “Go vote for the roads, hospitals and schools in your town.” After six months of growing social tensions, we now have the possibility to express ourselves. This is important because the counties and cities own over one fourth the money collected annually in the budget from taxes and social contributions, amount which rises to ten billion euro.

From ROMÂNIA LIBERĂ, we find out how the election campaign worked eighty years ago, during the antebellum period: the slogans varied from ironic to insulting, with slandering flyers and candidate caricatures, as finger-pointing demonstrations filled the town and village streets.
Translated by:

Cristina Baciu, MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University