National Press Review, November 23

"The bribe for Fatuloiu decreased due to the deepening crisis",headlines the Evenimentul Zilei.

The one million euros initially promised by businessman Cătălin Chelu halved after a short while.

State Secretary Fatuloiu said a few days ago that he was betrayed by "a few officers in the Economic Council".

Minister Traian Igaş – writes the Gândul - asked his subordinate to denounce the traitors now or otherwise to refrain from any statements until the report is finalized.

As concerning Cătălin Chelu, the Adevărul writes that he had accepted to give Dan Fătuloiu money, cars and houses because the State Secretary himself requested this persistently.

What is interesting is that, no matter if it is asked for or given to, the 'slippery' side of the bribe still circulates in one Ron bags...

The Jurnalul Naţional too marks this evolutions and seeks a conclusion on the first page, under the heading 'In whose honour is the ball "Bribe at the Interior Ministry" given?'

The business seems to be defining for the dissolution of an institution essential to citizen safety.

No matter how many denunciations and self-denunciations have been ever written, inside the Interior Ministry - the Jurnalul Naţional continues – they were unable to stop corruption and highly dubious enrichments.

And this is how we discover in the daily news a bunch of things about ourselves: we are at times poor or rich, but we are always owners. One at a time.

Romania is among the countries that run risks of... starvation.

Some Japanese have studied the issue globally and have recently released a report, which was published in the today`s România Liberă.

Romanians are included in the Japanese research, at the 'low income' category, and would terribly suffer if the food was more expensive across the globe.

On the contrary, in the Gândul, we find out that Romanians pay half a million euros a month to get treated at a hospital in Vienna.

About ten patients get there daily and pay in cash for their treatment.

Their large number - the Gândul continues – has led the Viennese doctors to learn how to give medical advice in Romanian.

And yet, we are poor – the Adevărul says. Poor, but still owners. Romania and Albania lead the world ranking of states with the highest percentage of homeowners.

97 percent of Romanians own the houses they live in.

The rate of people who are owners of their home does not describe, however, the country`s degree of wealth, the Adevărul continues.

The German or Swiss, for a change, are not at all bothered to rent a house and they are anything but poor...

Translated by Manuela Stancu
MA Student, MTTLC, Bucharest University