National Press Review March, 12

President Băsescu has made a "180 degree turn" in the statements offered yesterday to Pro TV, România Liberă writes.

In contrast with what he had previously stated in January, the President now claims that Romania can afford to increase public employees’ wages.

România Liberă wonders, however, "How will the state come up with a billion euro?".

The power comes from the money obtained from fighting tax evasion, bigger proceeds as a result of the economic increase and cut-backs in expenses.

But how realistic are these expectations?

Ziarul Financiar also refers to the President’s speech: Traian Băsescu is making a campaign promise.

If the state budget has no more money, the wages will increase from loans.

In one sentence, he has demolished everything he has been claiming for the past two years, namely, that the money from loans must only be used for investments.

After the President declared on Pro TV that the position as Head of State has meant "the biggest humiliation of his life", today, Adevărul is releasing a "History of humiliation in Traian Băsescu’s term".

He has always felt offended and humiliated by the attacks, but he has fought back with the same intensity, Adevărul writes.

Over the years, journalists, politicians, King Mihai, and Raed Arafat have constituted targets for his verbal attacks.

We find another interview with President Traiana Băsescu in Evenimentul Zilei.

On the matter of the bill regarding a unicameral Parliament with cutting back the number of Members of the Parliament, the Head of State states that, unless the Liberal Democratic Party revises the Constitution in the plenum, it can no longer rely on him sa a friend.

Where Romania’s relationship with Russia is concerned, the President says that it is better than what people think.

For example, Gazprom has supplied us with additional quantities of gas, while other countries have not received such supplies, and Russian investments are consistent and have not created social problems during the crisis, the way Western investments have.

Jurnalul Naţional writes that the "Abundant and expensive advertising has not attracted foreign tourists".

In the last three years, Tourism has had forty-one times more money at its disposal than in the time period between 2006 and 2009.

Nonetheless, compared to1989, the number of foreign tourists for the past year is much smaller.

They are hard to persuade and, when they do come, they leave our country with their pockets still full of money because they have nothing to spend it on: the entertainment infrastructure is lacking, and the hotel businesses cannot keep customers in their restaurants.

In Curierul Naţional we read about "The torment of the economy, hidden behind the official figures".

The journalists have consulted a series of specialists who are claiming that the national economy is suffering even more acutely than it is shown by statistics.

2012 might end with negative results because it follows 2011, when we experienced a random and disputable increase.

Translated by:
Cristina Baciu, MA Student, MTTLC
Bucharest University