National Press Review, November 8

Under the headline ‘Goodbye forever…’ Jurnalul Naţional dedicated no less than thirty-three pages out of its total of forty pages to the poet.

Azi published a special edition in memory of Adrian Păunescu as well.

Gândul reads ‘The Flacăra Cenacle in the Bellu Cemetery: how Păunescu managed to be among the great classics’ and România Liberă tackles a controversy, quote: ‘How Adrian Păunescu became a hero: while intellectuals are doubting his greatness, the public is worshiping him.’

‘Commemorated by politicians, forgotten by writers’ – reads Adevărul, which also mentions that Adrian Păunescu had been accompanied by thousands of admirers for the last time.

We also find out from Adevărul that Lasylo Borbely, the Minister of Environment announced that the Rabla Progamme will be continued next year and that the number of tickets that can be used by only one person to buy a new car will increase to five.

Furthermore, the journalists from Adevărul did an article about the Ceatalchioi village, which had been hit by the summer flood. ‘The disaster-stricken people are waiting for winter to come in tents. Four months after the flood, no house has been rebuilt: the building materials promised by the Government got there too late.’

Evenimentul Zilei informs us about the insurance card which all Romanian people will receive starting from next year. It will offer information about the owners’ wish or denial to donate their organs in case of cerebral death. Other pieces of information that will be mentioned on the insurance card are: ID and personal numeric code, insurance code, but also medical diagnostics that reveal high-risk diseases, blood group and RH factor, proof of payment of the health insurance contributions, special treatments received by the policyholder and other medical information – as stipulated in the Draft Emergency Ordinance drawn up by the Health Ministry and currently debated in public.

Evenimentul Zilei presents us a very interesting interview with the United States Ambassador to Bucharest. ‘Pay your debts to companies, otherwise investors will not come to your country,’ Mark Gitenstein advises the Romanian governors. He is unsatisfied with the fact that, in some cases, the overdue debts have been paid to the American companies only after long talks with people from the Government. The American Ambassador urges the executive in Bucharest to pay its debts, namely VAT refunds and governmental contracts, to the American companies.

‘Foreign students save universities,’ reads România Liberă and then explains: ‘Youngsters from Africa, Asia and Latin America choose Romania due to their low taxes and degrees recognized in the European Union. However, the number of the Romanian youngsters who want to attend a faculty is decreasing annually.’

There is good news in Gândul for people who live in Bucharest: ‘200 millions lei will be invested in the underground parking lots in the Capital.’ The parking lots will be built as public-private partnership: the city hall is going to offer land and the investor is going to provide money necessary for the project. In the newspaper you can see the map of the first six buildings and the sum of money that will be charged to drivers for parking.

Gândul also introduces to us the Romanian who designed the Taiwan Tower. The Romanian group of architects coordinated by Dorin Ştefan, an experienced futurist architect, defeated 236 teams from twenty-five countries in the world and won the first prize at the international contest organized in Taiwan for building a 350-meter skyscraper. The international jury awarded the $125,000 prize to this project, which could be used for a science fiction movie. The construction of the building will start in 2012 and is planned to be finished two years later.

Translated by: Roxana – Maria Budulan (Chesnoiu) and Raluca Mizdrea
MA Students, MTTLC, Bucharest